Iggy
by Akira Tosiyama
Summary: I just realized how few fanfics there are about Iggy. This is a oneshot that turned into a story because enough people liked it. It's kind of turning into a gigantic crossover. I may have to move it to Crossovers soon...
1. Chapter 1

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN MAXIMUM RIDE. JAMES PATTERSON DOES. LUCKY HIM. I DO NOT OWN "BLOW ME AWAY" BY BREAKING BENJAMAN, EITHER. BUT I STILL OWN MY PENGUIN PLUSHIE, SPADER.

This is just a story I thought of while I was listening to "Blow Me Away". I thought of Iggy, and how there are few fanfics about him. This can be an oneshot or a story, depending on how many reviews I get. You can vote too, though I warn you, if it continues, it will probably become a crossover, though I would try to keep it to a minimum.

**Chapter One (or the only chapter, see above)**

Iggy shut the door quietly, locking it with a soft click.

"Just call me when you're done. I'll be right outside." Gazzy's voice came through the door.

Iggy let out a soft sigh of relief. Feeling his way to the toilet, he thought, _It sure is hared to get alone time when you're blind._

He shut the lid, sitting down on top of it. Trying not to bump the handle, he reached into his pocket, pulling out the slim MP3 player Max had gotten him for his birthday. He clicked it on, setting it to shuffle by memory. Gazzy had helped him memorize almost the whole user's manual.

"_They fall in line, One at a time, Ready to play. (I can't see them anyway) No time to lose, We've got to move, Steady the hand (I am losing sight again) Fire your guns, It's time to run, Blow me away. (I will stay unless I may) After the fall, We'll shake it off, Show me the way."_

_That's weird,_ Iggy thought. _I've never heard this song before. Max must've put it on here. It probably reminded her of me. That whole "I can't see them anyway" line definitely sounds like me. That and "Blow me away." _He laughed silently, thinking of the many bombs he had built. _"I can't see them anyway"… I can't see _anything _anyway. I wish… well, I wish I could see, for one thing. I wish I could make all the Erasers disappear, so we could stay here. I like it here. People know us, actually care about us. Like Mrs. Harris. It was nice of her to let us stay here and feed us. The farm I could do without, horses and cows popping out of nowhere. But people care about us! That's what I need. Everyone else found their parents, but mine are…_ Tears dripped into Iggy's lap. _Well, it's not like they could stay with their parents anyway, with Erasers all over D.C. And it's only a matter of time before they find us here, and then we have to move again…_

Iggy sighed, wiping his face.

"Iggy? You done in there?"

"Yeah, one sec." Iggy rubbed his face, getting rid of the tear stains he knew were there.

"Iggy, Max says we have to move again. Fang saw an Eraser yesterday."

Iggy opened the door and felt Gazzy's small hand slip into his. "Where will we go now? Out of the country? They've found us everywhere else." Iggy half-joked.

"Well, Max did say she'd always wanted to go to Japan."

"She's the boss." Iggy shrugged.

"Personally, I think it's just for all the romantic sights. She and Fang are…"

"Gazzy." Fang appeared behind them.

"Oh! Uh… Hi, Fang." Gazzy stammered.

"FANG! WHERE ARE YOU?" Max bellowed from another room.

Iggy snickered. "_Fangie_, Max is calling."

"Shut up."

YAY! Just so you know, I don't support FangxMax, I just think it would be funny to see someone call him Fangie. I think he'd go ballistic. Anyway, review and tell me if I should make another chapter or just leave it there. As always, thanks to Kala, my cousin, Pickle, Creapy, and Chaos.

642 words


	2. Chapter 2

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN MAXIMUM RIDE. NOR DO I OWN AN AIRPLANE. NOR DO I OWN GRACE OR ANY OF THE INHABITANTS THEREOF. ALL CHARACTERS ARE IMAGINARY AND ANY LIKENESS TO REAL PEOPLE IS UNINTENTIONAL. (USUALLY). I OWN A PURPLE STAR SQUISHY PILLOW.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I got like, five reviews! And one of them was from someone who I don't even know! I can't remember their name at the moment, but thanks to them! Them and their friend Yami! Seto- How pathetic. Akira- Seto! Be nice! They reviewed my story! Seto- But…. Yami? Puhleese. Akira- sigh Well, everyone said I should continue, but I did warn you that it would crossover, right? But here is the next chapter.

**Chapter Two**

"Do we have to leave?" Two pairs of round eyes looked up at Max pleadingly.

"Yes. Say goodbye to Mark, Angel."

"But…" Angel's lip quivered ominously. "Mark's my best friend! I'll never see him again!" She burst into tears.

Fang rolled his eyes. "C'mon Angel." He swept her over his shoulder and strode out the McGregor's door.

"Bye Angel!" cried Mark, tears in his eyes.

Max sighed, then followed Fang. "Say your goodbyes, everyone," she threw over her shoulder.

"Bye Sam!" yelled Nudge. "See ya… nevermind." She went out the door, waving.

"BANG! Gotcha, Daniel!" yelled Gazzy.

"Gazzy. Time to go," said Iggy.

"Awww… do we hafta?"

Iggy nodded.

"Oooookaaaaayyyyy….. bye Daniel." Gazzy slouched out the door.

"Wait for me, Gazzy." Iggy called.

"Oh yeah."

Iggy smiled, then turned toward his friend Katie. "Bye."

Katie grinned. "Write me, okay?"

"As soon as possible." Iggy took Gazzy's hand and left.

It was an hour's ride to the nearest airport. Mr. Bean gave them a ride on his way to visit his daughter.

"Is your last name really Bean?" Gazzy asked for the nth time.

"Yeah." Mr. Bean answered for the nth time.

"Why couldn't we fly, again?" Nudge whispered to Max.

"Because the people in Grace would worry about us if we just disappeared. This way they at least know we got on the plane." Max whispered back.

"Hey kids," Mr. Bean said. "What's green and sings?"

"I dunno." said Gazzy, even though they had heard the joke about twelve times.

"Elvis Parsley!"

Mr. Bean, Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge all burst into hysterical laughter (again) as Iggy, Fang, and Max just rolled their eyes.

"Flight 777 to Tokyo, Japan is now boarding."

"That's your flight, kids." Mr. Bean picked up the scrawny carry-on that had all of their belongings in it. "You sure you guys will be alright?"

"Yep. We're going to stay with Fang's aunt Jessica. She moved there last year."

They had figured out the story the week before, when they announced they were leaving.

"Alright." Mr. Bean watched them get on the plane, then watched as it took off.

A flight attendant walked by, asking again if they needed anything. Iggy declined, as he was the only one awake.

_You would think they would give up after a while. But they just keep asking. _Iggy thought. _I wonder what Japan will be like anyway. We don't even know the language. Maybe we'll meet someone who knows English and can help us. I wonder how long it will take the Erasers to find us. Maybe we can stay there for a long time. I hope I like Japan. _He thought as he drifted off to sleep.

The flock was awakened a few hours later with an announcement.

"_Due to heavy rainfall, we are unable to land in Tokyo at this time. We will have a short layover in Domino City, where passengers may disembark if they wish._"

They all looked at each other.

"I'm sick of this plane." Fang said.

"I'm hungry." Angel whined.

"Looks like we're getting off here. Any objections?" Max asked. "No? Okay, Domino City it is."

There you are, people. Another chapter. I just popped that out this Thursday, May 2, 2006. I hope you liked it. And some of those people were based loosely on real people. Find out what happens next time on…. THIS FANFIC!

Thanks to Pickle, Cherry-Black, Kala, and Chaos for their support. And you too, random reviewer whose name I will put in the next chapter! And thanks to Chaos for updating Blue Eyes Kisara, even though as of now I haven't read it.

Seto- Good-bye.

737 words


	3. Chapter 3

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN MAXIMUM RIDE OR YU-GI-OH. I DO OWN A PURPLE STAR PILLOW NAMED… BAKU'S PURPLE STAR PILLOW. I ALSO OWN AN "I AI ANIME" WRISTBAND, COMPLIMENTS OF PICKLE AND CREAPY. I OWN A SHERLOCK HOLMES BOOK FROM CHAOS. (IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY RECENTLY)

Seto- Stop shouting. They can all read. xx

Akira- xP

Seto- O.o

Akira- And thanks to… wait… I know the name… uh… blackheartmoon? I think? The one with the Yami friend. GAH! I suck at remembering names! Anyway, thanks. And I think Yami will be in this fic… though he might get bashed… anyway, on with the story! (p.s. I'm writing this as if Yami won and had to stay in the real world, for those of you up to date on the Yu-Gi-Oh series on Kids WB right now. And Thief King Bakura (Baku) isn't dead in this either… and they all have their Sennen Items…)

**Chapter 3**

"Dang. This place is crowded."

Everyone turned to Fang in surprise.

Gazzy said in awe, "You talked! And more than two words!"

Max gave Fang(ie) a quick hug, provoking giggles from everyone else, once Gazzy told Iggy what Max was doing.

But what Fang had said was true. The Domino airport was strangely crowded. Of course, that might have had something to do with the flight from Cairo, Egypt that had just landed.

"Well, Kaiba, maybe if you had friends, you wouldn't feel dat way."

"I believe we've already had this discussion, Wheeler. Or is your memory span that short?"

Two of the boys who had just stepped off the plane from Egypt were in a heated argument, so heated that the flock could hear them from where they were standing.

"Think we should talk to them? They seem to know English…" Max asked Fang.

He nodded. _That speech of his probably wore out his vocal cords, _thought Iggy.

"Fang, could you talk for the benefit of those of us who can't see?"

"He nodded." said Gazzy.

"Do you guys speak English?" They heard Angel say.

They looked over (except Iggy, duh). She had gone up to the two arguing boys and asked them! _That girl's going to get kidnapped one day…_ Iggy sighed.

The taller of the two boys glared at her. "No… we just know how to argue in English… of course we know English, stupid brat! Now get out of my way!"

"Nii-sama! Be nice!" A short boy with long black hair said.

"Just ignore Kaiba. He's an obnoxious rich punk." The blond boy said.

"Watch it, Wheeler."

"You watch it, Kaiba!"

"Can't we all be friends?" an annoying looking girl asked.

"Shut up, Gardener."

"That boy's mean." Gazzy whispered to Iggy.

"I could hear that."

"Listen! Can you people help us? We just came to Japan, and we don't know the language." Max asked.

"It would be a waste of my time." The "mean boy" said.

A white haired boy walked up. "I would be glad to help you!" he said in a chipper British voice. Then he grew two inches taller, his hair spiked, and his eyes narrowed.

"Why should we help them?" he said in a much deeper and harsher voice.

"That was weird," Gazzy said. "He just grew!"

Iggy looked confused.

(A.N. I just read School's Out – Forever ! YAY!)

"What do you mean, he just grew?" Iggy asked.

"He just sprouted about two inches!"

"Oh."

"Er… Kaiba? What's up with that kid?" Max asked the "mean kid".

"He's got some weird split personality disorder. He's a freak, just like the rest of his stupid friends with their stupid friendship and their stupid cheating."

"Kaiba, I do not cheat!" A boy with starfish hair yelled.

"Right. Then what do you call the Heart of the Cards? Amazing luck?" the tall boy sneered.

"NO! I believe in the Heart of the Cards, and it helps me!" The boy exclaimed, but he was blushing furiously.

"Whatever. I'm going back to my _mansion_ to relax after all that Egyptian crap. I can't believe I had to sleep in that freaking desert for a month."

"Kaiba, it was on'y about fou' days." Banana-haired boy said.

"It felt like a month. I'll be blowing sand out of my lungs for at least that long. Come on, Mokuba."

"Coming, Nii-sama." The short boy with the long black hair said.

The rest of the people glared at him as he walked away.

"Glad he's gone. Now, how 'bou some intros?" the blond boy said. "I'm Joey, that boy wit da starfish hair is my best pal Yugi, da lady over dare is Tea (if ya can call her a lady) …"

The brown haired girl smacked him upside the head.

"Ow! Tea! … Anyway, dat dude over dare is Tristan, da freaky white haired boy is Baku, da non-freaky white haired boy dat turned into him was Ryo, an' da rest o' these people ain't worth introducin'."

The rest of the people glared at him.

"An' who are all yous'?" he asked.

Max was trying to decide whether to give them fake names or not, when Angel blurted, "I'm Angel; this is Gazzy, my real brother; that's Iggy, he's blind; that's Fang, he's boring; that's Nudge, she talks a lot; and that's Max, the leader."

Max glared. Fang exclaimed that he wasn't boring. Iggy blushed. Nudge quickly shut her mouth. Gazzy looked proud.

"Angel, sweetie, you can't just go around and tell people all about us." Max explained.

"But… they're nice! I _know _they are." Angel said in a whisper.

Max rolled her eyes. "Angel! I told you not to do that anymore!" she said in a hiss.

"What are you talking about?" Baku asked. "Told her not to do what anymore?"

Max started. He was furthest away from them. How could he have heard them?

"Uh… told her not to talk to strangers anymore." The white haired boy looked suspicious, but let it go.

"So, will you help us? We kind of need a place to stay, and we don't know anyone here, and we can't just go ask people since we don't know Japanese, even though Iggy's been trying to learn in secretly in his room for the last five years, and he's getting pretty good at it, but he probably thinks it would be hard to talk to someone when you can't see, especially…"

"Nudge. Shut up." Fang said.

She closed her mouth and glared at him. He motioned toward Iggy. He was glaring in her general direction.

"Yeah… So will you help us?" Max asked, trying to direct attention away from Nudge and Iggy.

Yugi looked around at his nodding friends, and then spoke up. "Sure we will… but… I don't think any of us has room for six extra people at our house… Kaiba does, I'm sure, but he wouldn't help anyone unless he had to. Or if Mokuba begged him…" He added thoughtfully.

Suddenly, the stripy-shirted boy popped out of a nearby plant. Everyone started at the noise and the sudden appearance of Mokuba.

"I snuck back when Seto wasn't looking. I wanted to help. I'll beg Seto for you guys. I'll even give him the puppy dog eyes! He can't resist those!"

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YAY! That's the longest chapter yet! Did I say I'd try to keep crossovering to a minimum? Uh… I really tried… but… it didn't work. Anyway, at that part where it says I read School's Out – Forever I had paused in my writing for a few days, during which it came out. And I bought it. And read it. And loved it. So, yeah. The next chapter will probably be much shorter than that and be focusing on Mokuba convincing Seto to let the flock stay at his house. Thanks to all reviewers, and to Blackheartmoon (that is the right name. I got it right!), I'll definitely check out your fics. Anyway, I gotta stop now. Before I run out of interesting things to say. Which I might have done about, oh, 7 ½ lines ago.

Nii-sama -Big Brother

1,348 words


	4. Chapter 4

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

I'm tired of doing disclaimers, so I'm going to let Ryo do it. Though I warn you, he just ate a whole box of donuts, crème puffs, and a bushel of bananas.

Ryo- WHEEEE!

Akira- Ryo. Do the disclaimer.

Ryo- AKIRADOESN'TOWNANYTHINGRELATEDTOMAXIMUMRIDEORYUGIOHOR HARRYPOTTERORHOWL'SMOVINGCASTLEORCOUNTCAIN!

Akira- O.o Okay… So… this chapter is going to be about Seto and Mokuba, and how Mokie convinces Seto to let the flock stay at his house. It's kind of just a funny chapter, so sorry if none of the Maximum Ride people are in here. Oh, and Akira is my OC. She is a girl (so am I). I know Akira is usually a boy's name, but hey, Ayame is usually a girl's name.

**Chapter 4**

Seto sat back in his custom molded desk chair, tuning his electric bass guitar. (A.N. Thanks, Randomspyder!) It was his favorite one, the black and white one Akira had given to him for Christmas.

_Now this is how I like to spend my days. This, and working. _

The door to his office creaked open. He stashed the guitar under his desk, just in case it was someone important.

"Nii-sama? Uh… can I ask you something?"

"Oh. It's just you, Mokuba. Yeah, you can ask me anything."

"Uh… you know those people at the airport?" He started out innocently.

_I do _not _like the direction this conversation is headed._

"Well, they need a place to stay. And, I thought, since we have so many empty rooms…" He trailed off.

"Mokuba! Gah! First it was Akira's friends Baku and Howl and Draco and that one emo boy…"

"Emile."

"Yeah, him. Now you want me to bring in people that we don't even know! What if they were like, ax murderers or something? Doesn't it seem kind of suspicious that they would come to Japan without knowing the language? Maybe they're on the run!"

"But… one of them speaks the language! And they're only fourteen! That's only two years younger than you!"

"Yes, but Mokuba, just because you're young doesn't mean you can't kill people."

"Seto! Please!"

_Oh, no. Not the puppy dog eyes! Say no, say no, say no…_

"Fine. But only if they find somewhere else to stay soon."

"YAY! Thank you, Nii-sama!"

Seto cursed at himself inside his head.

"Oh, and Nii-san? Don't think bad words, or you'll have to wash your brain out with soap." Mokuba left.

_And that might lower my I.Q. somewhat. He forgot that part of it. Deuce it! Those kids better find another place to stay soon, or I might end up killing someone myself…_

_----------------------------------------_

So. There it is. The short funny chapter. Pickle, you probably need to wash your brain out with soap! xD Anyway, see you next chapter!

460 words


	5. Chapter 5

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

This chapter it's Baku's turn to do the disclaimer.

Baku- This is boring. I want to fight the Pharaoh.

Akira- After you do the disclaimer.

Baku- sigh Akira doesn't own anything.  
Akira- Close enough.

Baku- goes to fight Pharaoh

Akira- Anyway, I really like this story, which is why it's getting updated. Sorry Cherry, but if you want me to update Sennen Chaos, you'll have to get me in a Seto sort of mood. For example, you could update your story…

Anyway, I'm just kind of writing this as I go along, so if there are any messed up things, inconsistencies, etc. please forgive me. If you see any that really stick out at you, review and tell me so I can fix it. And sorry it turned into more of a crossover… maybe I should put it in the crossover section… and this chapter may be the biggest crossover chapter, but I'll try to keep the rest of the chapters down to Maximum Ride and Yu-Gi-Oh (which I don't own). Anyway, on with the story!

**Chapter 5**

Gazzy's mouth dropped open. He had never been in a mansion before! It was so HUGE! And there were people everywhere! Not just servants, either, but just random people. Like the guy with hair that defied gravity, lying on the couch. Or the boy with gloves who was mixing chemicals together on the kitchen table.

"Gazzy, who are all the people? What are they doing here?" Iggy asked, a hint of fright in his voice.

"It's OK. I'm sure they're all just friends of the Kaiba's."

A girl with short black hair came down the stairs. "Oh. You must be the people Mokuba invited to stay with us. I'm Akira, Seto's secretary."

"Seto? Who's Seto?" Max asked.

"Oh, yeah, you only know him as Kaiba. He goes by his last name, usually. And if you called him Seto, he'd probably kill you." She glanced at the group of people behind the flock.

"Yugi? What're you guys doing here?"

"We wanted to make sure they got here safe." Yugi explained.

"Yeah, and make sure moneybags would really let dem stay here." Joey muttered.

"Of course they can stay, Wheeler. I told Mokuba they could." Kaiba said from behind them.

"Jeez! Kaiba, why'd you always hafta sneak up on us like dat?"

"Because it's amusing."

Akira sighed. "Seto, be nice." She turned to the flock. "Here, let me try and introduce you to everyone, but it might take a while. Um, the guy on the couch with the sword is Cloud, he doesn't live here, he just crashed here last night. The boy at the table is Emile, he likes poisons. Don't ever eat anything he gives you."

Iggy interrupted. "Could you describe them? I'm… uh… blind."

Akira blinked, but that was the only sign of surprise she showed. "Sure. Cloud's hair is blond and thinks gravity is for suckers. Emile always wears gloves and usually smells like some kind of weird… something. I'm not sure what it is… anyway; the other blond boy over there (dang, all these people are blond!) is Draco. He hates people. The one with the really flamboyant clothes is Howl; he lives on the third floor. Oh, and the fireball in his hand is Calcifer, his fire demon."

"Fire demon?" The flock screeched.

"It's OK, he's pretty nice. He won't burn you, either. The short boy with the black spike on his head – it's really his hair – is Ren. Don't go near him unless you want to be yelled at. He lives on the top floor. No one else is allowed up there. And you already know Ryo/Baku, they live here too. Oh, and the girl with brown hair and the knitting needles is Marissa."

"Do you ever stop talking? You're worse than Nudge." Fang said.

Akira grinned. "You must be Fang. And yes, I do stop talking, sometimes. Like when there aren't people to be introduced. Oh, that reminds me… HEY EVERYONE! THIS IS THE FLOCK! SAY HI!" she bellowed.

"Hn…" was all the response she got. That and a loud BANG as Cloud fell off the couch and on to the floor.

"Do you have to be so loud? Some of us are trying to sleep…" He grumbled as he got back onto the couch.

"Sorry, Cloud-san."

Angel looked curiously at Akira. "Does anyone else live here?"

"Just me, Seto, and Mokuba. Oh, and Haru, Baku's brother. But you'll meet him at dinner."

"Is it OK if Total stays here too?" Angel said, holding up her dog.

"Uh…" Akira glanced at Kaiba.

"Great, now there's a dog, too? Mokuba said six people, not six people and a dog!" He rolled his eyes. "I hate animals. No."

"Pleeeeeeease?" Angel begged.

_Oh, great, now she's going to _convince_ him to let Total stay and everyone will know something's up. _Iggy thought. _Well, looks like we won't be in Japan as long as I had hoped._

"No."

The flock did a double take. Angel looked really confused. "I said, pleeeeeease!"

"And I said noooooo."

Angel looked stubbornly at him and said, "Let Total stay here."

_Oh no, now she's done it. We're toast._

"For the last time, no."

Fang went over and shook Kaiba's hand. "Congratulations. No one has been able to resist Angel before."

"You should see my little brother's puppy dog eyes. Even I can't say no to them. Now take that mutt outside. Oh, and the little black dog too."

"Kaiba! For da last time, I am not a mutt!" Joey yelled.

"Maybe the dog should stay at your house, Wheeler. It would fit right in with you and your alcoholic father."

"Now you've gone too far, moneybags!" Joey jumped on Kaiba, trying to strangle him.

Akira coughed. "Um, would you like to see the rooms you're staying in?"

"Uh… aren't you going to do something about…?" Max gestured at the fighting boys.

"Oh, Seto can handle Joey. But Seto? Don't break anything please. I just got everything cleaned up from the party we had the other day."

She led them up to the second floor. "We put you on the second floor because it's usually quieter. And less crowded. Max, your room is here, then Nudge's, then Angel's, then Gazzy's, then Iggy's, then Fang's. They're all connected by doors inside, so you can get into each other's rooms if you need to. Across the hall is Mokuba's room, Seto's room, and my room, so if you need anything, just come ask us. Preferably Seto if it's past three in the morning, since he'll still be awake. You can go anywhere you want except the fourth floor. That's the top floor, which is Ren's. And you should probably ask before you go into anyone else's room. I'll be in the kitchen. Dinner's at six." She went back downstairs, leaving the flock alone.

"She talks too much." Fang muttered.

"What can you expect? She is a secretary." Max said.

Iggy grabbed Gazzy's hand. "Which one's my room?"

Gazzy led Iggy to his room and pointed out all the furniture.

"Thanks Gasman. Come get me when it's time for dinner, OK?"

"'Kay."

Iggy flopped on his bed, thinking of all that had happened in the last day. Was it only that morning that they had left Grace? It seemed like a week, but the time change probably contributed to that.

shuf

"Who's there?" Iggy sat up when he heard the foot on the carpet.

"Ah, so you do have better hearing when you're blind."

Iggy blushed angrily. "Who are you?"

"The name's Thief King Bakura, or Baku, if you prefer. Currently Yami of one Ryo Bakura." The voice said from off to the left.

"Yami? Doesn't that mean dark? How can you be the dark of someone?"

"When your soul is trapped in the Sennen Ring. Unfortunately, that is the case with me. Ryo is the host body for me this time around."

"This time around? How many times around can you have?"

"This is number sixty-three for me. And they'll continue on for the next 5000 years, and probably 5000 years after that, and so on. I'm kind of immortal."

Iggy raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

"You can believe me, I promise. Why would I lie to you? I don't even know you."

"Well, aren't you the one Kaiba said had split personality disorder?"

Baku sighed. "That's only because Kaiba is a git who doesn't believe in magic."

"Uh-huh. Magic. Riiiight."

"Would you like me to demonstrate? Because I can, if you want."

Iggy nodded, a bemused grin on his face. "Just remember, I can't see anything you do."

"I know." Suddenly, Iggy felt his wings being forced out of their hiding place.

"Hey! What the heck are you doing?" He tried to fold them back up, but it was like an invisible hand was pulling on them.

"You said you wanted a demonstration…" Iggy heard a gasp. "Wh… Where did you get those!" Baku gasped, amazed.

"Uh… from Santa?"

"Very funny. No really, where?"

"An evil genetics lab in California." Iggy figured if he had seen the wings, hiding the rest of the information wasn't of any value.

"Ah. Well, I told the shadow magic to show me your deepest secret, and here they are. Is that proof enough for you?"

"Uh… yeah."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I already knew you people were different when you stepped off a plane with no luggage. And when your, ahem, _sister_ said she _knew_ you could trust us. Something about the way she said "knew"… she can read minds, can't she?"

"Yeah." Iggy sighed. Max was going to kill him for telling all this to a stranger.

"Yes, well, I know a few other people that have that talent. Well, it's six o'clock, and Akira's making tacos. Until later then."

Iggy heard the door close. A second later, it opened again. "Iggy? It's time for dinner." Gazzy came over and led Iggy downstairs.

Another chapter down. Sorry for all the introductions, but the Kaiba mansion is rather full at the moment. I really like this story though. As always, thanks to all my reviewers, I hope you keep reading! I think I'll start typing the next chapter now…

1,714 words


	6. Chapter 6

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

Now it's Seto's turn to do the disclaimer!  
Seto- Akira does not own any manga series, anime, book, movie, video game, character, plot, or location that may or may not appear in this story, notwithstanding Akira Tosiyama, her Original Character.

Akira- O.o Thanks, Seto. And now, dinnertime!

**Chapter 6**

The flock went down to the dining room, which was already packed with people. Luckily the table looked like it could fit about 57 people. A short butler showed them to six chairs near the head of the table. They saw quite a few people that they hadn't met earlier. Among them was a very, very, small cow.

_I thought Kaiba didn't like animals. _Fang thought.

Max was surprised to see a plate set for everyone but Kaiba. _Maybe they bring his in special._ She thought.

Akira came in, carrying a plate stacked high with fried corn tortillas. She set it down near the middle of the table, and then separated it into smaller stacks so everyone could reach some.

"Alright everyone, dig in!" She sat on the left side of Kaiba, next to Iggy.

Immediately it seemed like half of the tortillas disappeared. The flock hurried and grabbed as many as they could, then set to making their tacos. Gazzy helped Iggy with his. There were so many ingredients they didn't know where to start. They ate about seven tacos each, glad that for once, they didn't eat the most. Akira took care of that. She ate about twelve.

_How does she stay so skinny?_ Max wondered. Then she looked toward Kaiba and saw that he wasn't eating at all, but typing away on a laptop. _Well, I know how he stays so thin. _

Fang looked back at the small cow, noticing that it was sitting on the table next to Bakura. The cow was eating a small plate of leeks. _Weird. No one else seems to care that there's a small cow there. _

Angel looked at the cow, and then looked up at Kaiba. "I thought you said you hated all animals!" She said accusingly.

"Wha… oh. The cow. That's Baku's brother. He has to stay here."

"Baku's what?" Fang asked incredulously.

"You heard me. Brother. B-R-O-T-H-E-R. As in, a sibling."

"But… he's a cow."

"Yes, and?"

"He's a freaking COW."

Baku glared at Fang. "Your point being? And for your information, he's only a cow because he has a weird disease. Normally he's human."

The flock blinked, dumbfounded.

"A disease that turns you into a cow?"

"No, not "you". Just Haru. Hatsuharu Sohma, to be precise."

"Oh. That makes so much more sense." Fang said sarcastically.

"Yes well, let's drop it. Everyone else accepts that he's a cow, so you can too." Baku said testily.

"Sephiroth!" Akira exclaimed suddenly. "It's not polite to reach down the table with your sword. Just because it's seven feet long…" She was right. A man with long silver hair was reaching down the table with a very long sword.

"Sorry, but no one would pass the olives. I kept asking and no one would listen." He replied smoothly. "Just be glad I don't use it to reach down the table and stab Cloud."

Cloud snorted. "As if. I could kick your butt with my eyes closed."

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. "Fine. Midnight. The old abandoned factory. Be there."

Cloud pushed his chair away from the table. "Fine with me, loser." He got up and walked away.

Akira rolled her eyes. "Sephi, you know he's going to kick your butt again."

"Shut up! And don't call me Sephi! It's SephiROTH!"

"Whatever."

Sephiroth shoved the rest of the taco in his mouth, then strode away looking like a chipmunk.

"What was that all about?" Iggy whispered to Gazzy.

"I have no idea."

The doorbell rang.

"Miss Tosiyama, a Miss Chaos is here to see you." A butler reported.

Akira excused herself and went to the door.

Minutes passed.

"Well, this is awkward. It reminds me of this one time on a movie I watched where this one person leaves, and it's like all the fun got drained out of the room, and then they come back, and it's like a party, but then everyone turns into zombies and…"

Fang slipped a hand over Nudge's mouth.

Kaiba looked up. "I think I saw that movie." Then he went right back to typing.

Everyone blinked, trying not to laugh.

"Anyway," Baku said, breaking the awkward moment. "How long will you people be staying here?"

The flock looked at each other.

"Uh… as long as possible." Max answered.

"Then you're going to have to go to school."

The flock started.

"I know, it's a bother, but the police are over practically every day to make sure no one coughKaibacough is ditching school. They know we have pretty much the whole eleventh year class over here all the time. So we'll have to sign you up soon. School starts in a week."

Akira came back in. "Sorry, Seto, but can the Herd stay here tonight? They went to some party and with the rain, they can't get home."

Seto rolled his eyes. "Fine. One night only. The mansion's almost full."

"Thanks, Kaiba." A short, silver-haired girl said.

"Oh, everyone, this is the Nerd Herd. The girl with the silver hair is Chaos, the boy with glasses is Andrellix, the boy with brown hair and freckles is Alphonse, the girl next to him is Sumi, the girl with long blond hair is Peace, the girl with long black hair is Goten, the boy with wolf ears is Takeo, the boy with the top hat is Ryou, and the girl with ice cream is Tabby. Oh, and the boy in the back is Joah. Herd, this is everyone. I'm not going to introduce them, it takes too long. Seto, dessert is in the fridge. Go get it, please. Bye everyone." She left again.

Fang mouthed, "The Nerd Herd?" at Max and she shrugged.

Kaiba got up and came back with a huge bowl of chocolate pudding. He set it on the table then disappeared in the direction of the basement.

When dessert was done, the flock went back to their rooms. Iggy sighed, then braced himself and said, "Uh, Max? Uh… Baku found out I have wings."

The flock gaped.

"It's OK, he said he wouldn't tell anyone."

"Iggy! What if he's an Eraser? Or lets it slip to someone, and it gets around to an Eraser!" Max yelled.

"Well, he's got white hair, doesn't he? Which pretty much rules out him being an Eraser. And… I really don't think he'll tell anyone. He already figured out Angel can read minds."

"He did WHAT! How could he have figured that out!"

"At the airport, he heard her say "I _know _we can trust them" and he figured it out from the way she said "know". Besides, I have other reasons for trusting him."

"Like what?" Max demanded.

"I don't think I need to tell you. You can figure it out yourself." Iggy said decisively.

"Iggy!"

Iggy turned his back and strode to his room and slammed the door, locking it.

_There. Let's see how they feel being left out of something._ Iggy thought angrily.

"Ah, anger. What a wonderful emotion. So… powerful." Baku's voice came from behind him.

"What're you doing here?" Iggy growled.

"I just came to ask you a few questions, that's all."

Iggy relaxed. _Calm down. It's not him you're mad at. _"Like what?"

"Why you have wings, for one. Why you seem so distant from the rest of your "flock", for another. And if you'd like to be my apprentice, finally."

"Apprentice? Apprentice what?"

"Thief King."

Once again, thanks to all reviewers. Thanks to anyone who stuck by this story even when it became more and more crossovered. And there you go, Chaos. The Herd. I couldn't remember all of your names for them, so I made some up and used different ones. By the way, I think the party you guys were at was the wild party of Sephiroth's.

Until next chapter, then.

1,352 words.


	7. Chapter 7

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

Hmm… Now it shall be… Iggy's turn!  
Iggy- Sloys fprdm'y pem smuyjomh/

Akira- Um, Iggy? Your fingers were on the wrong keys.  
Iggy- Oops.

Akira- Well, his fingers were just over to the right of the real keys, so maybe you can figure it out. Anyway, on to the story!  
**Chapter 7**

"Excuse me? Did you just say Thief King?" Iggy asked in disbelief.

"Yes, but more about that later. First, my other questions." came the reply.

"Fine, but I get to ask you some questions in return."

"By all means. Now, first of all, how did you get wings and why?" Baku inquired.

Iggy grimaced. _Max might have to make him an honorary member of the flock when I'm done with this story. _Then he started explaining everything, from how the whitecoats had taken them, to the painful experiments, to losing his sight, escaping, Jed's disappearance, Angel's kidnapping, Jed's reappearance, and everything they understood and had gone through, up to the point that they had to leave the D.C. area.

Bakura sounded disgusted. "Your own _parents_ tried to exploit you! And I thought my father was bad!"

Iggy shook his head, trying to fight back tears. Baku noticed this and quickly changed the subject. "So, everyone had found their parents and was happy, more or less, and then the Erasers found you. Then you left to protect your families. Where did you go?"

Iggy was glad to move away from the painful subject of families. "Well, we went all around the country, ending up in a little town called Grace. Then the Erasers found us there and Max decided to move us here. We figured it would take them a while to find us here."

"I would imagine. Alright, you answered my first question, now you can ask me something."

"Why do you care? About our story, I mean." Iggy asked.

"Ah, not "our" story, Iggy, _your_ story. And as for why, well, unless I get my own body back soon, which I am working on, I need someone to carry on my legacy while I'm stuck here. And I happened to notice you have an affinity for fire, and possibly explosions. For instance, bombs."

"How could you have known that?" Iggy asked warily, remembering that Baku had said he knew people with a talent for reading minds.

"Well, your fingers have several quite noticeable scars from burns, you have the distinct odor of smoke about you, and there's a Braille book titled "1001 Different Bombs You Can Make" in your bag."

"You know Braille?" Iggy said, thinking, _Please don't let Max know that's what the book is. She thinks it's my Algebra 2 book._

"Yes. And I won't tell anyone that's what the book is."

"You can read minds!" Iggy exclaimed.

"No, your face is exceptionally expressive. We'll have to fix that. It would be very bad in some situations to be saying "I didn't do it" while your face is saying "I'm guilty!""

Iggy blushed. The flock had told him that many times, but he thought he had got pretty good at hiding it.

"That's why I care. But, it's time we should be getting to bed."

"What? It's only eight o'clock!" _Even Max doesn't make us go to bed that early!_

"Yes, well, you did fly here from America. That's a rather big time change. Besides, if we don't pretend to go to bed soon, we won't be able to sneak out for Sephiroth's party! Akira wants everyone to rest up for school. School doesn't start for a week!" Baku grumbled. "But if we "go to bed" now, she'll go to sleep, and then we can all sneak down to the basement for the party. Everyone agreed to sneak down at nine, when she's sure to be asleep. That girl takes the saying "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise" too literally. She wakes up at five a.m.! So, see you in the basement at nine, then?"

Iggy's head was spinning. "Uh, I don't know the way to the basement."

"Oh yes. I'll send Haru up for you then?"

"Uh…"

"He'll just moo at your door and you can go out to meet him."

"But… he's a cow." Iggy said.

"He won't be at nine o'clock tonight."

"Uh, OK then, I'll be there at nine." Iggy said nervously.

"At nine, then." Baku left.

Akira knocked on Iggy's door. When no one answered, she listened. She could hear a soft snoring. She smiled. _At least someone else is asleep. It took forever to persuade The Herd to go to bed. And Iggy's friends weren't too happy about it either. Oh well. _She moved softly down the hallway to her room. She stopped by Seto's door and sighed. "Seto? Are you… I mean, good night, Seto." All she heard in reply was typing. She sighed again. _It's no use telling him to go to sleep, what with his insomnia. He'd just ignore me anyway. _She slipped into her room, locking the door behind her.

9:00 p.m.

Iggy wondered if it was nine o'clock yet. He had heard a knock at his door shortly after Baku had left, and pretended to be asleep, in case it was Akira or the flock.

"Moo."

Iggy sat up. He felt his way over to the door, making sure to grab his MP3 player in case it was boring at this party.

He opened the door and felt someone grab his hand. He flinched involuntarily.

"I-it-t's o-o-ok. I-I'm Ha-ha-r-ru."

The boy had a serious stuttering problem.

Haru started twisting a finger inside his ear.

Then all heck broke loose.

"Stupid White Haru! Can't you stop stuttering for one second!" he whispered furiously at himself. "You're such an idiot! Why don't you just let me talk!" He turned to Iggy. "Hi. I'm Black Haru. The Stuttering Wonder that was here a minute ago was White Haru. We've got to sneak past Akira's room. That's the hard part. She's a light sleeper. Luckily the basement is soundproofed."

"What about Kaiba? Don't we have to sneak past his room too?"

"Nah, he's doesn't care. As long as we don't mess up any of his stuff down there. Now shush."

Will Iggy and Haru make it past Akira's room without getting caught? Will the party be boring enough to make Iggy pull out his MP3 player? All this and more in the next chapter! Which I think I'll type up right now… And by the way, the party is kind of a "Go Sephiroth! Beat Cloud in the fight mentioned in chapter 6!" party.

1,107 words


	8. Chapter 8

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

Ok, now it's my sister's dog's turn to do the disclaimer.  
Dog- Wags tail.

Akira- O.o That didn't work. Ok, how about… my unidentified music provider on my computer! Let's see what it says:

Unidentified Music Provider- Go, and hunt her, and find her, and kill her!

Akira- O.O Never mind! How about… Sephiroth! SEPHI! Do the disclaimer.

Sephiroth- IT'S SEPHIROTH! NOT SEPHI!

Akira- Fine, Sephiroth, do the disclaimer.  
Sephiroth- Akira doesn't own anything, much less me.

Akira- O.o Anyway, I'll refer to Black Haru as, well, Black Haru. And White Haru is just Haru.

**Chapter 8**

"Ok, just follow me." Black Haru whispered to Iggy.

They started down the hallway toward the stairs. Iggy felt them slow down. _We must be going past Akira's room. _

Creak.

Black Haru froze. When no one came charging out of Akira's room, they continued on.

"Ok, we're to the stairs." They both let out a sigh of relief.

They went down two flights of stairs. As soon as Black Haru opened the door to the basement, Iggy was hit with a blast of noise. Black Haru dragged him inside and shut the door quickly.

"Ah, Iggy. You made it." Bakura met them at the door. "And Haru… Haru! Why are you Black?"

"Because stupid White was all stuttery. It made me mad."

"Hmmm… Well, just don't kill anyone."

Black Haru grumbled, and then he left to go party.

"So, Iggy, are you hungry? Thirsty? We have enough stuff here to feed a rampaging army. We snuck into the fridge upstairs."

Iggy nodded eagerly. He hadn't done much lately, but that didn't stop his high metabolism. Bakura led him over to a long, low table covered in party goods. There were chips, candy bars, dried fruit, soda, and all kinds of other stuff. After he had loaded up a plate, Baku led him to a chair.

"I'll be right back. Just sit here, and if anyone says anything to you in Japanese, just shake your head."

Iggy sat there for a minute, overwhelmed by the loud music and multitude of people he could hear.

"You haven't been to many parties, have you?" came Kaiba's voice from his left.

Iggy started, and then cautiously said, "No. I haven't." He was aware that anyone could be an Eraser, meaning he had to be careful about what he said at this party.

"I could kind of tell. You look totally out of your depth."

"I thought you would be upstairs working."

"I needed the computer down here. Besides, I have to make sure Bakura doesn't set anything on fire."

Iggy nodded, well aware that Baku was the type to set things on fire. "But don't you need to go to sleep? You have work tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, I do. But I also have severe insomnia. Meaning I'm lucky to get three hours of sleep a night. So, no sleep for me until about three in the morning."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm used to it." Iggy heard Kaiba go back to his typing.

CRASH!

Iggy jumped about a foot in the air. _What was that!_

"BAKURA! That was Akira's best punch bowl! What the deuce did you think you were doing!"

"Er… spiking the punch?" came a sheepish reply.

"Bakura! Everyone here except you, Howl, Sephiroth, Cloud, and maybe Chaos are underage!" Kaiba yelled.

"Isn't that the point of spiking the punch?" came a slightly drawling voice.

"Yes, just be glad I didn't spike it," said a voice that Iggy recognized as the boy with the poisons. _Yeah, no kidding. _

"No, Draco, that is _not_ the point of spiking the punch. And yes, Emile, we're all glad _you _didn't spike it. Now clean that up before I come clean it up with that mop you call hair, Bakura." Kaiba replied.

Midnight

"Ahem. I would like to thank everyone who helped in setting up this party, and all of you who think I can defeat Cloud. But now, Cloud and I will be going to the factory to have a duel."

"Ok, Sephiroth, shut up. Let's go. It's not like you're going to beat me anyway."

"Grrr… just because you CHEAT!"

"Whatever. Let's GO."

"Fine."

Iggy heard the door open and close.

"Ok, everyone, party's over. Go up to bed. And DON'T wake up Akira, unless you want to be lectured for hours." Kaiba ushered everyone back up the stairs.

"But Kaiba, don't you want us to help you clean?"

"I've seen your version of cleaning, Bakura, and frankly, I think the basement would be better off without it. Good NIGHT." Kaiba shut the door behind them.

Bakura escorted Iggy back to his room. "Well, good night. Tomorrow we have to get you signed up for school."

Iggy shuddered.

"No, Iggy, not The School, just school."

"I know, but that word… gag."

"I know. The word school strikes fear into the hearts of all, not just the flock."

Sorry I didn't really describe the party, but just picture loud music, food, dancing, and video games and you've got it. Anyway, on to the next chapter: School! Or at least getting ready for it.

858 words


	9. Chapter 9

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

Ok, now it's… Haru's turn.  
Haru- Moomoomoo moo moo moo moomoomoo.

Baku- Translated, that's, "Akira does not own anything."

Akira- Yep. Now, the story.

**Chapter 9**

Iggy woke up sluggishly. _Dang, maybe that party wasn't such a good idea. _He made his way over to the door that led to Gazzy's room.

"Gazzy? Are you awake?"

"There you are, sleepy head! Come on, you almost missed breakfast!" Gazzy dragged him down to the kitchen, where Iggy was hit with the aroma of pancakes. Lots of pancakes.

Gazzy sat Iggy down.

"Finally! Akira wouldn't let us eat until everyone was here!" Max said.

"Am I the last one?"

"Yeah, we just sent Gazzy up for you."

"Ok, everyone, you can eat now!" Akira said.

Everyone tore into the food like a pack of ravenous wolves. Fang noticed that Sephiroth was absent from the table, and that Cloud looked very smug. _He must have won that fight, then. _

When breakfast was done, Bakura said, "Alright, Iggy, get your friends and follow me. It's time to sign you up for school."

The flock grumbled, but followed Baku out to a very shiny black Pontiac Solstice.

"Hmmm. You won't all fit in here. Looks like we'll have to borrow Akira's van." Baku left, and came back a few minutes later with some keys.

"Why did you even take us to that car? You knew we wouldn't all fit in it." Max said.

"I know. I just wanted to show off my car."

Max and Fang rolled their eyes.

They all climbed into a blue minivan. Baku drove them to a small elementary school first. "This is where Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge will go. Come on."

"What? We're not going to be in the same school?" Max yelped.

"No, of course not! They're not old enough to go to high school, and I don't think you three could pass off as elementary school kids. Now come on!" Baku led them into a small office.

"Hello. How may I help you?" the secretary asked.

"I have three new students. They just moved here."

"Uh, their legal guardian needs to sign them up."

The flock looked around nervously. Their last legal guardian was Jed, and they really didn't want him there.

"Right. I am their legal guardian." Bakura said, startling them all.

"But… you can't be more than 17 years old!"

"Actually, I'm 21. The wonders a good face cream will do for you, ne?"

The secretary looked confused, and then said, "I'll need to see their birth certificates, social security cards, and proof of immunization."

_Uh-oh. Now we're busted._ Iggy thought.

"Right here." Baku pulled out a manilla envelope with several official looking documents inside. "Here are Angel's documents."

"Who?"

"Angel Sohma. This one." Angel stepped up.

"Ah." The secretary handed Baku some paperwork to fill out.

"And here are the papers for Gaston; he prefers Gazzy, and Monique."

"All Sohmas?"

"Yes mam. They're my cousins, actually, but their parents died in a car accident."

The secretary looked from Nudge, who was African-American, to Gazzy and Angel, with their blond hair and blue eyes.

"Monique was adopted."

"Ah. Well, here's the paperwork for them."

Baku filled out the paperwork at breakneck speed. "Here you are."

"Alright. Angel will have Ms. Paine, Gasto… Gazzy will have Mr. Thomson, and Monique will have Mr. Jackson. We'll see you on Monday."

When they got back outside, Gazzy yelped, "Gaston! How could you call me Gaston?"

"It was the only name I could think of that would give you the nickname Gazzy. Would you have preferred Gazerthan? Because that was the only name my internet search came up with."

Gazzy grudgingly acknowledged this.

"Ok, now to Domino High School."

They drove to a large high school.

Then something hit Max. "Hey, that lady was speaking English!"

"No she wasn't."

"Then how could we understand her?" Max countered.

"I used a rather simple spell that lets you understand Japanese and lets other people understand you."

Everyone but Iggy stared at him. "Spell?" Fang said skeptically.

"Yes spell. You may not believe me, but as long as it's working, who cares?"

The flock continued to stare, but didn't press the matter.

"Well, here we are! Domino High: Home to Seto Kaiba, most famous person in Japan!"

"Why are you making fun of Kaiba?"

"I'm not. I'm reading the words above the entrance."

They looked, and sure enough, it said that over the door to the school.

"Does it really say that?" Iggy asked Gazzy.

"Yup."

Iggy gave out a low whistle. "Dang. I didn't know he was famous."

"Oh, don't tell him that. He thinks everyone in the world knows who he is. Of course, you were in America…" He trailed off as they entered the building.

"Ah! Mr. Bakura! Why are you here? And who are your friends?" An imposing man said.

"Oh, Mr. Kenshi, you startled me!" Baku said in a high voice that reminded the flock of the first time they had met him.

_Oh yeah, _Iggy thought. _He takes over that other guy's body. Mr. Kenshi must think he's Ryo. _

"Terribly sorry to startle you, but why are you here? School doesn't start for a week."

"I came to get my new friends registered. They just moved here."

"They can't register without their legal guardian." Mr. Kenshi said with a hint of smugness.

"That's why I'm here," said Kaiba from behind them.

"Oh, Mr. Kaiba! You are their legal guardian?"

"For the time being, yes. Now, about registering them?"

"Of course! Right this way." He led them into his office.

Kaiba looked around disdainfully. "Can I just sign the papers and leave Bakura here to fill them out? I don't really have time for this."

"Certainly!" Mr. Kenshi handed him some papers to sign, which he did and then left.

"So, who are these new students?"

"They're actually my cousins. This is Max; short for Maxine, this is Nick, and this is Iggy."

"Are they siblings?"

"Kind of. They were all adopted into the same family. But sadly, their parents died in a car accident recently. Kaiba agreed to be their legal guardian until we can find someone to adopt them."

_Dang, Bakura and Kaiba must have planned this out last night. Either that or they're doing some really quick thinking. _Iggy thought.

Baku pulled out the manilla envelope again, withdrawing the documents for Max, Fang, and Iggy.

_They must have planned it. How else could he have gotten fake documents?_

Mr. Kenshi was looking over the documents, "Birth certificates, social security numbers, proof of immunization… and what's this? A note from an optometrist? Saying that Iggy is legally blind… hmm… well, we can do one of two things. We could put him in the Special Ed. Classes, or we can make sure one of his siblings is in every class with him."

"Put me in classes with my siblings. Or Bakura. Or maybe Kaiba."

Mr. Kenshi was taken aback at the quick reply. "All right. We can do that."

Bakura handed him the finished paperwork.

"Well, I'll see you all on Monday. Your schedules are on the school's website. Just type in your name."

They walked back out to the van.

"How did you get fake documents? And why is our last name suddenly Sohma?"

"Well, Kaiba is not only the most famous person in Japan, he's also one of the most influential. And as for the name Sohma, it's Haru's last name. Since I'm his brother, and I never really had a last name to begin with, I'm Bakura Sohma. And since I'm your, ahem, cousin, I figured we could have the same last name."

"I still don't get how a cow can be your brother." Fang muttered.

"I told, you, he's usually human! Now drop it!" Baku snapped. "Anyway, we need to get you school supplies. We'll have to go shopping. And frankly, you need better clothes."

"What's wrong with our clothes?" Max said, offended. She had picked them out herself.

"Well… they're perfect, for a normal person. But you don't want to look like normal people. Kaiba would kill you if people found out you lived at his house and were dressed like _that_. I mean, t-shirts and jeans? Puh-lease. Kaiba freaks out if someone's wearing anything less impressive than, say, a trenchcoat when they say they live at his house. Fang, you're fine, just add a black wristband and rip off your sleeves. Angel, you need a frilly dress… or baggy pants with lots of pockets. You can choose. The rest of you just need… cooler stuff. Accessories. And we can buy your uniforms."

"Am I going to have to wear one of those ridiculous sailor suits?" Max asked apprehensively.

"Oh yeah. And at Domino High they're pink."

Poor Max! BWAHAHAHAHA! NOT! HAHAHAHA!

Sorry, I'm not a Max fan. Or a Nudge fan, as those of you who know me personally will be able to tell from the name of her teacher: Mr. Jackson.

Next Chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

Are we already to chapter 10? How crazy is that! On most of my stories I'm lucky to get to chapter 5! Thanks to all reviewers, again. You guys make my day! There's nothing better to cheer up a sad author than a good review! Now, since it's chapter 10, I'll give you a special treat! It's called… A real person will do the disclaimer! My sister!

Akira's sister- Is this person crazy! It's not like she owns any of this or anything.

Akira- Whatever that's supposed to mean. I'm not crazy! And now, chapter 10! Hooray!

**Chapter 10**

The mall. A hulking presence in the life of almost every teenager. The flock had only been to one mall before this, and it was not a pleasant experience. The words "sample smoothie sugar high incident" come to mind.

"Can we make this quick?" Fang said gruffly.

"As quick as we can." Bakura replied. "I'm not all that fond of malls myself."

"Do they have free smoothie samples here?" Angel asked innocently.

"NO!" the rest of the flock yelled as one.

Angel grinned evilly.

"All right, the school uniform supply store is over here." Bakura led them into a large store filled with all kinds of different school uniforms. They walked up to the counter, where a bored looking old lady was cracking her gum loudly.

"Welcome to School Uniforms R' Us, how may I help you?" she said in a monotonous voice.

"Yes, we've got two boys and a girl at Domino High, and two girls and a boy at Kaibara Elementary."

The old lady looked at them critically, then came back with six boxes. "Would you care to try them on?" She gestured toward some filthy looking dressing rooms.

"Er… no. We'll just return them if we need to." Bakura said after looking at the dressing rooms. "Oh, and can we pick up the order from the Kaiba mansion?"

"Let's see… Name?"

"Bakura."

She looked at him. "Photo ID?"

He handed her a driver's license.

"Hmmm…" She wandered into a storage room.

Max peeked inside one of the boxes. "How come the boys get blue!"

"Because they're boys."

Max grumbled something along the lines of "political correctness must not have reached Japan" and wandered over to look at all the different uniforms.

"See, there's Domino High." Bakura pointed out the blue suits and pink sailor suits.

"Here you are." The old lady handed Bakura a large box.

They left the shop after paying for their uniforms. Bakura ran and put the uniforms in the van before continuing on.

"Ok, now for the fun part." They walked into a huge, gothic-looking clothes store.

"Fang, there's all kinds of stuff in here you would like. Iggy and Gazzy can get stuff here too, if they want. Max, you and the girls can go into the next store over and get your clothes. We'll meet back in the food court in an hour, ok?"

Max shot Iggy a glare, as if to say, "I hope you were right about this guy."

"Fine." The girls left.

Fang picked out several different black ensembles, including some wristbands. Gazzy got some baggy black pants with lots of pockets and a shirt that read, "Hocus, Pocus, You're out of Focus" in fuzzy letters. Iggy got some basic clothes, with a black trenchcoat to top it off.

Baku paid for it all. Being a thief king really came in handy sometimes.

They met the girls in the food court. Angel had bought a cute frilly dress and some baggy pants. Nudge got a short skort thing, and Max had bought… jeans and t-shirts.

"So you're the rebellious one, eh? Just don't get mad at me when Kaiba freaks out on you. Now we should go get paper and pencils and that kind of thing. Oh, and your backpacks… crap, we should have picked those up at the school uniform store… ah well, we can go back."

They walked back to the school uniform store. The old lady looked at them.

"Weren't you here before?"

"Yes, but we forgot the backpacks."

"They're in the box with the uniform. The schools made the backpacks part of the uniform."

"Ah. Thank you. Sorry to waste your time."

They went back to the van. Bakura drove them to the nearest Wal-Mart, where they bumped into Akira.

"Oh! Hey Baku. What're you doing here?" she asked nervously.

"I could ask the same of you. Doesn't Kaiba hate this place?"

"Yeah, but it's the cheapest place to get school supplies. Don't tell Seto I got our stuff here, or he'll refuse to use it. He still doesn't let them carry his duel disks."

"Our lips are sealed."

"I could get your stuff too, if you wanted. Then you could go home." Akira offered.

"Thanks. Here's their school supply lists." Bakura handed them too her.

"Hey, that's the elementary Mokuba goes to! Maybe you'll see him there. I think Emile goes there too. But I hope you don't see him there, at least not anywhere near your food." She giggled. "Anyway, see you at dinner! I'm making tuna casserole for Seto. That way he'll eat something. Bye!" She waved at them.

"That was nice of her." Max commented.

"She's a very nice girl." Baku said.

"She still talks too much." Fang grumbled.

"This is also true." Baku sighed.

They headed back to the Kaiba mansion, unaware of the dark presences following them.  
---------

"You're sure this is them?" A hooded figure said.

"Yes. After all, that is the Bakura boy." Answered a taller hooded figure.

"I can't believe it. They seem so… ordinary. Why should they be the ones who get…" The taller one cut him off.

"Aren't you late for a date?"

"CRAP. I gotta go! Can you follow them?" the shorter one pleaded.

"I think they're going to the mansion. Isn't that where your date is staying? You can pick her up when we get there."

"But… I'll be late! Besides, I told her I'd get the drinks, and I still ain't got them!" he whined.

"Fine. Go. But Elena isn't going to be happy about this."

"What she doesn't know can't hurt her. Please don't tell her."

"Fine."

The shorter figure took off, leaving the tall one to follow them. He called a taxi, aware of how clichéd it was to say, "Follow that car." But he didn't have much choice.

O.o I have no idea where that last part came from. I guess my inner fanfic writer was crying out for action. Besides, I had to get Chaos's date in there somehow.

1,105 words


	11. Chapter 11

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

I guess I'll just do the disclaimer this time. Ahem. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT AKIRA. Now that that's over with, let's start the actual chapter! (And see if those mysterious hooded figures return; honestly, I have no idea where they came from)

**Chapter 11**

The flock helped Bakura carry in all of their purchases, and then went into their rooms to try on their uniforms. They fit pretty well, better than could be expected with wings sticking out of your shoulders. Then came the embarrassing part. They went into each other's rooms to see how the uniforms looked.

"Uh…" Fang said.  
"Er…" added Iggy.

"What?" asked Max, whom they were staring at. She looked like she had never worn a skirt before. She also looked like, well, a goody-goody.

"How are things going?" Bakura came in. Then he saw Max. "Uh… one moment."

He came back in, dragging Sumi, Chaos, Goten, Peace, and Tabby behind him. He pointed at Max. "Help her." He said simply.

The five girls went immediately to work. They rolled up her skirt at the top to make it shorter, bunched her long socks around her ankles, undid a few buttons on the jacket, and loosened the neckerchief thing.

"This is how it should look." Sumi said.

Max glared at them all. "I didn't ask for any help."

"Yeah, but if you went to school looking like that, you'd get beat up." Tabby said.

Max sighed. "Fine. Thanks."

The girls left. Baku went over to Iggy. "Er… don't button it all the way up unless you want to be labeled "loner, genius, arrogant geek" like Kaiba. He's the only one who wears his uniform buttoned all the way up. And you can always add accessories, like necklaces, dog collars, earrings, etc. Or you can wear a shirt under it and leave it unbuttoned."

Once all the fashion tips were given, they went back to their rooms and changed into their new clothes. Max raised an eyebrow at Iggy's trenchcoat, but didn't give him the satisfaction of saying anything. They went down to the living room and were glad to find that Cloud was awake so they could sit on the couch. Quite a few people were already in the room watching "The Phantom of the Opera". The flock settled in, and Fang and Gazzy were soon asleep. The girls were all in tears, and Bakura was singing along under his breath.

Knock, knock.  
The butler came in. "Miss Chaos, a Mr. Reno is here. He says you are his date this evening."

Chaos got up and left.

"I hope they don't get too drunk." Akira muttered under her breath. Then she got up to start fixing dinner.

_From the sound of it, this is a pretty interesting movie. _Iggy thought. _Though I could see why Fang fell asleep._

After the movie, everyone went into the dining room for dinner.

-----------------

The hooded man peered through the window at the people filing into the dining room. _This should give me enough time to go make a report, if they don't eat too fast. _And with a swirl of his cloak, he was gone.

----------------

_I wonder where that cow went. And who is that guy? _Fang thought, noticing that there was a strange white haired boy next to Bakura in the place of the cow.

_Who are they? _Max thought, noticing two more people. _And why is there a large suit of armor? This house just gets weirder and weirder. And more full._

Akira came in. "Dinner's almost ready, but while we're waiting, we've got three new guests."

"Great. Just great." Kaiba muttered.

Akira shot him a glare. "Anyway, this is Faust, the necromancer, and this is Ed and Al, the alchemists."

_Did she just say that the suit of armor was named Al? _Max wondered. Then the suit of armor moved. _Oh. I guess there's a person in there._

Akira disappeared back to the kitchen, and came back with two huge tubs full of casserole. Then she got two small ones and set them at her and Kaiba's places. Quite different from the night before, Kaiba wolfed down more tuna casserole than you would have thought possible. He finished his whole dish and took some from a tub.

When they were mostly done eating and were waiting for dessert, Fang asked, "Where'd the cow go?"

Baku rolled his eyes. "His name is Haru, and he's right here." He pointed at the boy next to him. "I told you he was usually human. He got over the disease, and now he's back to normal… well, as normal as he can be."

_He's kind of cute. _Max thought, and then was disgusted with herself.

After dessert, Kaiba announced, "The person who reserved the living room for tonight has informed me that there will be a video game fest there in ten minutes for all those who wish to attend. Also, Bakura has requested that no one go into the shed outside tonight, unless "you want to have your soul sucked into the Shadow Realm and devoured by the hounds of Anubis", in his words." Then Kaiba turned and headed for the basement again.

The flock decided to go to the video game fest. There were video games of every kind, each hooked up to one of many, many TVs. Everyone settled into some game or another, and eventually Kaiba came up and announced that a Dance Dance Revolution tournament was about to be held.

It was a long and grueling tournament, but eventually it got down to Kaiba, Goten, Peace, and Draco. They kept going… and going… and going… until at last it was declared a four-way tie.

"Funny, I didn't picture Kaiba as much of a dancer." Fang said.

"You didn't do so bad yourself." Max complimented him.

Gazzy said obnoxiously, "Are you going to kiss now?"

Fang whirled on him. "No."

----------

The cloaked man returned, spotting the targets through the living room window. His master had decided that they would follow them for the next week to discern their schedule, then get them at school. This was fine with him. Stalking was easy, and even easier without Reno around.

He heard a door creak open and quickly ducked behind a bush. He could make out four figures, one of them giant, walking toward a small shed. _I wonder what they're doing… oh, well. I must keep my eyes on the targets. _He turned back to the window just in time to see everyone leaving to go up to bed. He went to the tree that he had found earlier. It was easily climbable, and stood right next to the window of the blind one. That way, he wouldn't be seen.

_Though I do wish Reno was here to do the climbing part._

There you go, Chaos. A date.

Next chapter: We find out what's going on in that shed. The next chapter probably won't have any of the flock in it, and it will probably be short, but it'll be good. If you think I need to put this in the crossover section, please tell me and I will. But if you'd like it to stay here, just tell me.

1,210 words


	12. Chapter 12

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

And now, some words from my Shonen Jump! –opens it to a random page-

Shonen Jump- Hey, moron… didya think I was just gonna play around?

That's from the February 2005 issue, by the way. And now, the disclaimer: I don't own anything except Akira. Don't sue me. My grandpa's a lawyer and so is my uncle.

**Chapter 12**

Bakura looked around nervously at the two alchemists and the necromancer. "Can we get on with it? I've been waiting for this for 5000 years."

The short blond alchemist rolled his eyes. "You can't rush this. If the tiniest thing goes wrong, your body will be gone forever. Now, do you have the ashes?"

"Yes." Baku handed him a small bag filled with ash.

"Good. Al, do you have everything else?"

"Yes, Ed. It's right here." He opened the chest plate of his armor, revealing that it was empty except for the supplies they needed. No one was surprised at this.

"Ok then." Ed set everything down in the center of the large chalk circle Al had drawn. "Stand back." He warned. Then he clapped his hands together and slapped them to the ground just inside the circle. A brilliant flash of light blinded them momentarily, and when they could see, a sleeping young man in a red cloak had appeared in the circle. At least, that's what it looked like.  
Bakura let out a soft gasp.

"Does it look right?" Faust asked. "It has to look right or your soul may reject it."

Bakura inspected it carefully, making sure all the right scars were there, the shoe size was right, everything. "Yes." He said carefully.

"Alright then, prepare your soul to be fused to it again."

------------

Bakura slowly opened his baka hikari's door. "Baka. Baka, wake up." He shook Ryo awake. "It's time, baka."

Ryo was instantly alert. "You mean, you're leaving?" He said in his soft British voice.

"Yes. I'll have my own body back."

"What do I need to do?"

"Just set the Ring on my body."

"Ok. But… I'll miss you."

"Baka, I'll still be here. Unfortunately, I can't break the mental connection we have. Now come on."

The British boy pushed himself to his feet. Without warning, he threw his arms around his Yami. "You're my best friend, Yami."

"Get off." He shoved the boy away, retreating deeper into his own feelings.

---------------

Ryo opened his eyes for the first time in two days. He looked around, recognizing the three people that were there with him. At a nod from Faust, he set the Ring atop Baku's body. _He really does look like me._ He turned to leave, but stopped when Faust said, "Wait. If it goes wrong, he will need you."

Ryo hoped it went wrong, and then chastened himself. _He's been waiting for this for 5000 years. Be happy for him._

Then there was another flash of light.

---------------

Baku just lay there with his eyes closed for a minute, taking in the feeling of having his own body, having long fingers and toes again, his scars, and being physically fit. Then he opened his eyes. His eyes, which for the first time in 5000 years were his, and his alone. His eyes that were the right color. His skin that was actually tan. His feet, which he had always loved, with the long toes perfect for scaling palace walls and running fast. He reached up and felt the scar that ran across the right side of his face. The hieroglyphs which had been branded on the right side of his collar bone that spelled "thief". The white hair that could be incredibly spiky and soft at the same time. The sharp canines. Then he stood up. Ah, to be standing on his own legs, legs that were more athletic then Ryo's could ever hope to be. And to be facing Ryo, his host for the past ten or eleven years, to be looking at him felt like the ultimate triumph. He had his body back. And if he had anything to say about it, he would not be losing it again. Ever.

Just so you all know, I do NOT support RyoxBaku. That is sick. I think they think of each other as friends, or maybe brothers. And Ryo just likes everyone.

Just wait until the next chapter. Baku has his body back to wreak havoc.

Thief King Bakura

740 words


	13. Chapter 13

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

Sorry, the last chapter was sort of Baku-centric. But… I LOVE MY BAKU!  
Seto- Ahem?

Akira- But I LOVE MY SETO MORE!  
Baku- Ahem?

Akira- But… YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND! Now is everybody happy? Good. I don't own anything but Akira. Nope, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Maximum Ride, FullMetal Alchemist, Fruits Basket, Harry Potter, The song "Paper Heart", Xbox 360, GameCube, Playstation2, Shaman King, Count Cain, Howl's Moving Castle, Final Fantasy VII, or The Nerd Herd. Well, I own part of The Herd, but only thanks to Chaos and Dark's Bishonen/Bishojo Slave Trading Service! I don't own D.N. Angel either. Dang, after rereading that list, I see that this has become… REALLY crossovered. And this chapter will be weird, because I keep switching the point of view from character to character. But it's hard to write from a blind person's point of view all the time, since you can't describe things well. So sorry about that. I hope it flows well. Anyway, the chapter.

**Chapter 13**

Iggy was awakened by the sound of a tree branch scraping against his bedroom window. _That's funny, I can't hear any wind. _He felt his way over to the window and opened it. Then he heard a loud THUD and moaning.

"Wh-who are you?" He said in the direction of the moaning.

"Why did you open the window? Ow…" A voice said.

Iggy reached down and picked up a book out of his backpack. "Tell me who you are and what you were doing outside my window, or I'll beat you with this book!"

"You can't even see where I am!"

"No, but I can hear you." Iggy heard a frightened gulp. _I'm sure glad this is "1001 Bombs" and not "101 Bombs". It's way bigger. _

"Ok, ok. My name is Rude. I was sent here to keep an eye on you."

"Sent by who?" Iggy hoped this guy wasn't an Eraser.

"None of your concern. But I wasn't going to hurt you."

"What color is your hair?"

Rude was taken by surprise. "I… don't have any hair. I'm bald."

Iggy could tell he was telling the truth. "Ok, now get out of here. And I don't want to hear you again!" He threw the book in Rude's general direction, then heard Rude scamper back out the window.

_I wonder if he meant the flock by "you", or if he just meant me…_

--------------

The next morning, Gazzy got Iggy up for breakfast.

"Come on! Today it's French Toast!" He practically dragged Iggy downstairs to breakfast. Everyone was already eating. Iggy was momentarily overwhelmed by all the noise.

"So how was…"

"Get your foot out…"

"Stop poking the food…"

Iggy heard the door open. Then it all went silent.

"Baku? Baku? BAKU!" he heard Akira scream, then he felt a rush of air as she ran past him.

"What's going on?" he whispered to Gazzy.

"Bakura just came in, but there's someone with him… they look like they could be twins, except one is way more tan and athletic looking."

_So that's what he meant when he said he was working on getting his own body back. _

---------------

Akira looked up from her French Toast at the sudden silence. And there, standing in the doorway, was Baku. And Ryo. At the same time. Baku had his body back.

She yelled, then ran over to hug him.

"I can't believe it! How did you do it?" she half sobbed on his shoulder.

"I had a little help from Ed, Al, and Faust." Baku said, patting her on the head. "Now stop crying. You're getting my robe wet."

"Sorry. It's just… you're back!" She hugged him again.

"Hey, I'm back too!" said a soft British voice.

"Oh, yeah! Hi Ryo!"

"Hello! Erm… do you have any bananas?" he asked shyly.

"Of course, they're over there on the table."

The albino boy sat down in Bakura's place… but it was his place too, in a way.

"Hey, Baka. That's my place." Baku said sharply.

"But… where am I to sit?" Ryo said.

"I don't care. Just not in my seat."

"Yami, why do you have to be so mean? All I did was sit down!" he said, half hysterically.

"Sheesh! You don't have to cry about it, Baka." Baku looked stunned.

"MY NAME IS NOT BAKA, BAKURA! IT'S RYO!" he screamed.

A stunned silence followed this.

"Whatever, Baka. Now stop yelling and eat your food." Baku said calmly.

"No. You can't order me around anymore, Bakura. I don't have to listen to you. You can't control me any longer." And with that, Ryo turned on his heel and strode out of the room.

----------------

Ryo was furious with himself. _Why did I yell like that? He's always called me Baka, always been mean to me…_

_Maybe you have more courage now that you're rid of me._ Bakura thought in Ryo's head.

Ryo jumped. _How are you talking to me?_

_I told you, I don't know how to break this mental connection._

_You mean you can still hear what I think?_

_Sometimes. And if you were in great pain, I would feel it. Or if you were immensely sad. Or angry. For instance, because you're so angry right now, I feel a tad angry myself._

_So… you're not gone forever?_

_Of course not, Baka. I'm immortal. I'll never be gone forever._

_I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be mean to you. I just… wish you were nicer._

_Maybe I will be, now. Having my body back has greatly improved my spirit, if you'll pardon the pun._

Ryo smiled. _You remember the song, Yami?_

_Which one?_

_Paper Heart._

_Ah. You mean, "I know moving on is easiest when I am around you." Yes, Baka. I suspect moving on will be easier for both of us._

_Yes. And, "Tears fall down your face. The taste is something new."_

_Hm?_

_You can cry now, Yami. And it will be _your _face the tears fall down._

_Ah. I don't cry, Baka._

_But you can._

_"This wait for destiny won't do. Be with me, please, I beseech you." I hate waiting for destiny. I've been doing it for 5000 years, deuce it!_

_What about the "Be with me" part?_

_…_

_Yami?_

_Are you going to come back and eat your breakfast or not?_

_You know perfectly well I can't let good bananas go to waste. I'll be back shortly. _Ryo smiled, glad they had resolved that issue, sort of.

----------

After breakfast, everyone went their separate ways. Kaiba, Mokuba, and Akira went to work, the Nerd Herd finally left, Cloud went to visit Tifa, Emile locked himself in his room with a chemistry set, Draco went out to torment some "muggles", and everyone else just hung out in their rooms or went to an arcade. Iggy went into Max's room, where the flock was meeting.

As soon as everyone was there and the door was shut, Max exploded. "Ok, Iggy. What is wrong with you? You've been sulking around, you yelled at us and slammed the door, and you've been using your MP3 player like a shield from the rest of the world. What's wrong?"

Iggy fumed silently. "You know what, Max? I don't feel like telling you."

"No, Iggy. You're not getting away with that this time. Out with it."

"Ok then. Let's see, where to start? Oh yeah, you guys found your parents and they were nice, mine were just cretins. I'm blind, and we haven't stayed anywhere long enough for me to get my bearings in months. Someone found out about us, and you yell at _me_. People keep reminding me I'm blind, like, "Will you hand me the green… oh yeah, you're _blind._" People talk to me and I'm always afraid they're Erasers. I can't make friends if I'm afraid they're Erasers. Oh, and some guy was watching me through my bedroom window last night and then he fell in my room when I opened the window. Then he told me he was sent to watch over us, or maybe just me. And that, Max, is what is wrong with me."

The flock was stunned. "You had all that bottled up inside you? Why didn't you just tell us?" Max asked.

"I wanted you to know what it felt like to be left out of stuff. And you guys are part of the problem."

"Wait, did you say a guy was watching you?"

"Yeah, and I think he's been stalking us."

"He's probably an Eraser! Iggy, you could have died!"

"No. I asked him what color his hair was, and he said he was bald. Isn't it physically impossible for an Eraser to be bald?"

"Yeah, but he could have been lying! Iggy, you have to tell us when stuff like this happens."

Iggy flushed angrily. "I just told you! Besides, I know how to tell when people are lying, and he wasn't! This is why I've been staying away from you guys! You yell at me and treat me like I'm about three! I'm almost as old as you, for crying out loud! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hang out with someone else for a change."

"Like who? I thought you said you didn't have any friends. Besides, why do you need other friends when you've got us?"

"For times like this, Max. Times when you are being total jerks. I need to get away from you people for a little while. Good bye." Iggy turned and fumbled for the doorknob before leaving.

Max was furious. "Why does he have to be like that! I wish I could just punch him in the mouth!"

"He has a point." Fang said quietly.

Max stopped mid-rant. "What?"

"He's different, Max. He doesn't have all the same stuff we do. Families, for instance."

"We're his family!"

"No we're not, Max. Not really. Now let him go."

"Fine. But he's going to pay for this."

-----------

Iggy stormed downstairs to Bakura's room.

Knock, knock.

"Who's there?"

"Iggy."

"Iggy who?"

"Uh… just Iggy. This isn't a knock, knock joke, you know."

"Ah, right." Bakura opened the door. "And what brings you here, just Iggy?"

Iggy glared in his general direction.

"Sorry."

Iggy sighed. "I just needed to get away from the flock for a while. They're being total jerks."

"Ah, social troubles, eh? Well, you've come to the right place. Come in, come in."

Had Iggy been able to see… well, it wouldn't have mattered much. Baku's room was almost completely black. The walls and ceiling were black, the carpet was black, even the mattress was black. Everything was slightly accented by gold, though. It was a fairly plain room, just a bed, a dresser, a small beanbag chair, and the biggest entertainment system Iggy had never seen. Plasma screen TV, Xbox 360, GameCube, Playstation2, any other game system you could think of, surround sound, DVD, VCR, Tape/CD/MP3 player, and two of those really awesome banana chairs with the speakers in them.

"Please, have a seat." Iggy sat on the bed. "So, have you thought about my offer?"

Iggy nodded.

"And?"

"I think I'm going to take you up on it."

"Excellent. You are officially my apprentice then. We can start training next week. Every day after school. And I'm not going to go easy on you, either. It's going to be tough."

"Good. I like a challenge. I'll be here right after school, then?"

"Indeed. And that reminds me, I have to go get registered for school, now that I'm back to normal. I'll see you later." Baku ushered Iggy out of the room and locked it.

Iggy wondered where he would go now.

Dang. That was kind of long. I suppose I could have split it into two chapters, but I didn't feel like it. YAY! Iggy's apprenticed to a Thief King! Thanks again to everyone! Pickle and Kat, I'm glad you made it home safe. We'll have to play more Carpet Banjo sometime!

2,000 words


	14. Chapter 14

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

Now, to find out what Iggy will do next!

I still don't own any of the stuff mentioned in last chapter's disclaimer.

I'm just going to describe stuff, because it's fun. Just because Iggy can't see doesn't mean I have to not describe stuff, right?

**Chapter 14**

After much thought, Iggy decided to go to see what Kaiba's business was like. He went to the front of the house and found a butler. "Can someone drive me to where Kaiba works?"

The butler promptly called Roland, the head butler.

"Come with me."

Roland led Iggy to a limo and drove him to Kaiba Corp.'s main office. Roland took him up to the front doors.

After thanking Roland, Iggy walked through the front doors, preparing his ears to be assaulted by a multitude of voices. Surprisingly, there was only one.

"Yes, Hiroyuki-san. Yes. Goodbye."

Iggy heard a click and the skritching of pencil on paper.

"Akira? Is that you?"

"Oh! Iggy! I didn't even see you! Why are you here?"

"I was bored and wanted to know where Kaiba worked."

"Oh. Well, Seto's in a meeting right now, but I could take you on a tour, if you wanted."

"Sure. Are you the only secretary?"

Akira laughed. "No. I'm just Seto's personal secretary and the official greeter person. The rest of the secretaries are in another room. Now, for the tour, we should probably start at the top and work our way down."

"Is it ok for you to leave your desk?"

"Yeah, I just need to tell Chiko-chan that she needs to take my place for a while."

Akira pressed a button and a girl came over. She explained that she was taking a break and would be back in about half an hour.

"Ok, Iggy, right over here to the elevator." She pushed the button for floor 37, the top floor.

As they were going up, Akira chatted with Iggy, just like she would if he could see. She didn't stop and apologize for saying the word "see" or do anything to show that she even cared whether he was blind or not.

_I wish the flock could talk to me like this. Only four people have ever talked to me like this: Akira, Bakura, Kaiba, and Katie. I need to write to Katie…_

Ding.

"Well, here we are. Top floor, and as George, the elevator boy would say if he were here, "Top floor! President's office, Vice President's office, and women's apparel. Oops! No women's apparel here! Sorry about that!" He thinks it's the funniest joke, and he says it every time anyone comes up here. Anyway, this is where Seto's office is, and Mokuba's too."

They stepped into a richly carpeted hallway. There were only two doors. Each had a nameplate on it. Akira took Iggy into the office of Seto Kaiba.

"Well, there's not much in here. Just a sofa, a TV, a rarely used refrigerator, an often used coffee maker, his desk, and his office chair. Oh, and under his desk is his guitar."

"Kaiba plays guitar?"

"Bass, actually. He walked into a music store last year and fell in love with a bass. Then he just taught himself."

Akira took Iggy to Mokuba's office next. It was the exact opposite of Seto's.

"Oh, hey Akira! Hey Iggy!" Mokuba chirped.

"Hey Mokie, are you ever going to clean this place?"

"It is clean!" the boy said indignantly.

Akira looked pointedly around at the candy wrappers, Gameboy games, pizza boxes, and fast food bags that lay everywhere. Not to mention the huge mess of folders on his desk. "_This _is clean?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"I know where everything is!"

Akira sighed.

"Anyway, why are you guys here?" Mokuba asked curiously.

"Iggy wanted to find out where we worked."

"Oh. Well, sorry to push you guys out so fast, but I'm late for a meeting."

"You mean the one that started half an hour ago?" Akira asked, shaking her head.

"Erm… yeah."He said sheepishly.

"Ok, well get going!"

They walked into the hall and got in the elevator.

"Which floor is the meeting on again, Akira?"

"25."

Mokuba pushed the button for 25.

"Well, the next fifteen floors are meeting rooms. We don't need to go to any of those." Akira told Iggy.

"Ok."

After Mokuba got off, Iggy and Akira went to floor 22. "This is where the medical center is, in case anyone has a heart attack during a meeting. This is also where anyone at the mansion comes if they have any problems. The mansion is just down the street, by the way."

They walked into the medical center, where there were some very bored looking doctors. They had no one with any problems, hence the boredom.

"Hey Dr. Jones, this is Iggy. He and his friends are staying at the mansion for a while."

One of the doctors looked up from his game of poker and nodded.

"And… are you gambling?"

The doctors hurriedly shoved the cards into their pockets. "N-no ma'am."

"What were you doing then?"

"Uh… playing Go Fish?"

She looked at them suspiciously. "Just don't let Seto catch you."

"Thank you ma'am." The doctors said, relieved.

"Ok, Iggy, next floor."

They stepped back into the elevator and headed to the 21st floor.

"The next six floors are secretarial. This is where all the other secretaries are."

They stepped out and were assaulted by noise.

"Yes, please hold."

"Mr. Kaiba is in a meeting…"

"I'm sorry, the Duel Disk does not come in pink, but you can place a special order by…"

Iggy covered his ears and Akira led him back to the elevator.

"Sorry, it's always kind of loud. Anyway, the next ten floors are developing, product testing, and brainstorming. Every so often Seto goes to these floors to see what they've come up with. On those days, people usually get fired."

After quick tours of these floors, they headed to the fifth floor, the cafeteria.

"You hungry? It's about lunchtime, let's get something to eat."

They ate lunch, after choosing from the wide variety of the cafeteria.

"Well, the next floors are Seto's private workshops, so we can't go in there. And we're back to the first floor!"

"Thanks for the tour."

"No problem! Stop by anytime!"

Akira called Roland and had him take Iggy back to the mansion.

When he got back, Max jumped on him. "Where have you been! We were so worried! We thought an Eraser had you! Never do that again!"

Iggy shook her off angrily. "I was fine, Max. I just went to the Kaiba Corp. tower and I was with someone the whole time. I can take care of myself, believe it or not." He glared in her general direction.

Then he stomped up to his room.

--------------

Ok, I think we're going to skip to the day before school starts in the next chapter. Thanks to all readers, and please review! Sorry, this chapter was kind of lame. Anyway, on to the next chapter!

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	15. Chapter 15

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

I LOVE "ONE WINGED ANGEL"! (But I don't own it) IT'S A REALLY GOOD SONG!

Music player- And if the world suddenly ran out of cheese, he would get down on his hands and knees to see if someone accidentally dropped some cheese in the dirt, and he would wipe it off for you, wash it off for you, clean that dirty cheese off just for you!

Akira- VEGGIE TALES POWER!

Seto- O.o Okay…

Akira- Anyway, I still own nothing but Akira.

**Chapter 15**

The day before school starts. A frenzy of cleaning, preparing backpacks, making lunches, washing uniforms, and making sure Emile doesn't put poison in the aforementioned lunches.

"BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Akira rolled her eyes. "Emile, whatever you just put in that lunch had better not be lethal!"

"Whatever are you talking about? I would _never _put _anything _lethal _anywhere_!" he said innocently.

"Riiiight. Tell that to Cain. If he believes you, I will. Now you get to make new lunches to replace all the ones you just poisoned."

"But… my gloves will get dirty!"

"Too bad. Now go."

Emile sighed and went back into the kitchen.

Baku popped up. "I'll supervise him!"

"Uh-huh. Supervise him in what? Putting really dangerous stuff in there? I don't think so. Uh…" _Who is there that will really make sure he doesn't put poison in it? Not Sephiroth, not Cloud, not Baku…_

"Ryo! Will you go supervise Emile please?"

"Sure!" Ryo jumped up from helping Angel put together her backpack and went into the kitchen.

_Now, let's see: backpacks packed, check; lunches made AGAIN, check; school uniforms washed and ready, check; and alarm clocks set, check. _Akira thought as she absentmindedly walked down the hall.

"OWCH! Watch where you're going, you deuced GIANT!" someone shouted as Akira ran into them.

"Oh, sorry, Ren."

The short, spike-headed shaman glared at her. "Just don't do it again and I might let you live, filthy cockroach."

"Anyway, are you all ready for school, Ren?"

"What business is it of yours!"

"It isn't, but I was just asking."

"I can take care of myself." Ren turned on his heel and went up to his room.

_Sheesh! _

--------------

"Do we really have to watch them constantly?" Reno asked Rude, bored out of his wits.

"You know the orders."

"But they're asleep!"

"Yeah, and last time I thought they were asleep, I ended up falling through a window."

"That's only because you can't climb worth crap."

"No, it's because the blind one opened his window!" Rude said heatedly.

"Rule No. 1 of tree climbing: Never go out on a branch that leans against a window, especially if it's cracked."

"You're just making that up."

"No, really!" Reno pulled out a small green booklet and shoved it in Rude's face. "Read chapter 12, about tree climbing."

"Reno, what is this?"

"My Climber's Handbook."

Rude rolled his eyes. "There's a handbook?

"You're holding it." Reno yawned loudly. "Can't I just take a break and go to sleep?"

"If you want to be fired."

The red haired man sighed. "Oh! Look, I think he rolled over!" He said sarcastically, pointing through the window.

In fact, Iggy had rolled over. He had heard them talking and was now listening intently to their conversation.

"Rude, can't I just go to sleep? Please! I'm so tired!"

"I told you, Reno; go to sleep if you want to be fired."

"What's up with that! I haven't slept in days! At least when it was just Rufus he'd let us sleep! Ever since that new guy came along it's been one mission after the other. Why do we have to watch these stupid kids again?"

"Reno, you know we can't talk about that. This is an unsecured area."

"Who cares?"

"Our boss."

"Oh yeah."

And with that, they stopped talking. Iggy rolled over again to ponder these clues.

_I wonder who they're working for. It sounds like they just started working for him, whoever he is. Rude was the one who fell through my window, but who's Reno? Wait… didn't that girl Chaos go on a date with a guy named Reno? I wonder if it's the same person?_

And with that thought, Iggy promptly fell asleep.

------------------

"Are you sure you know what you're doing? Sending Reno and Rude to follow them?"

"I would trust Reno and Rude with my life, and in fact, I have."

"Mr. Shinra, trusting Rude I can understand, but Reno?"

"He may seem immature at times, but he's actually rather smart." The man called Shinra said.

"This may come as a shock to you, but this mission is of the utmost importance to me."

"Reno and Rude will be fine. They have handled more difficult missions than this."

"It's their ability to do it without the targets finding out that I'm worried about. Reno is… loud."

"He knows when to be quiet."

"He'd better."

--------------------------

Just so you know, I still don't know who the other guy is… if you have any suggestions, please send them to me!

Next chapter: School!

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	16. Chapter 16

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

Well, here we are again! Chapter 16! YAY! Thanks again to all reviewers. You people are cool! (Note to all NHT readers: Review to get 100 spiff points!) Well, I still don't own anything but Akira.

**Chapter 16**

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! The sound of many alarm clocks going off at the same time rang (literally) through the Kaiba Mansion. Many people fell out of bed, grumbling.

Akira's chipper voice echoed through the mansion. "Time to get ready for school! Breakfast in ten minutes! Everybody must be dressed!"

With much more grumbling and some less than polite remarks toward Akira, everyone got into their school uniforms.

When everyone finally got downstairs, they ate. Akira was the only one truly awake.

"All right, everyone for Kaibara Elementary, your bus is coming! Grab your backpacks and get out there!" Akira herded them out the door.

Max straightened Angel's skirt. "Don't do anything… weird."

"I know, Max. I won't"

"Okay then, have fun!"

After Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, Emile, and Mokuba had got on their bus and it headed off, everyone else started grabbing backpacks and heading out the door to wait for the bus.

"Cloud, make sure no one breaks in, okay?" Akira asked the pile of blankets on the couch.

It grunted.

"All right then, let's go and get on that bus! I hope there's room for all of us… anyway, roll call!"

"What do you mean, roll call? We're not even to school yet!" Bakura yelped.

"Well, there are a lot of us. I just want to make sure no one got lost."

"Got lost where?"

"Where else? In the mansion, duh. Anyway, I'll just call out your names and you raise your hand. Max… Fang… Iggy… Haru… Baku… Ryo… Seto… Draco… Ren… Marissa… and me. Okay, everyone's here! Let's go get on that bus!"

They got on the long yellow school bus. Max, Iggy, and Fang immediately felt claustrophobic. The group took up six seats, since Ren took his own seat. Iggy ended up sitting next to Draco, whom he knew nothing about, other than that he went "muggle" hunting.

The trip was fairly short. When they got off the bus, the bell rang almost immediately.

"Okay everyone, hurry to your classes and meet near the door at lunchtime!"

Everyone separated and went to their classes. Iggy's first class was math, with Fang.

"So, Fnick, just me and you in this class. I can't wait until sixth period, when we all have drama together."

Fang grunted.

"Come on, Fang, you're going to have to be more eloquent than that. We're in school. Besides, girls don't like grunting."

"I don't need a girl. I have Max."

"Oh yeah, Fangie, you do!"

"Shut up, Iggy."

Just then the teacher came in. You could tell it was her first year teaching. She was young and pretty, and she treated them like first graders. "Hello, everyone! And welcome to this new year of learning and excitement! I hope you all have a good time in my class! We're going to make this a fun year! Let's go around and introduce ourselves!"

Everyone stared at her.

"Come on, you can do it! Don't be shy! You there, with the black shirt! What's your name?" She pointed at Fang.

"Fang."

"Funny, I don't see a Fang on my list…"

"Nick. Call me Fang."

"Oh, Nick Sohma! Are you related to Momiji Sohma?"

Fang shrugged.

She turned to Iggy. "You must be Iggy Sohma! Don't worry; I'll make sure you don't feel left out." She turned and whispered loudly to the rest of the class. "He's blind."

"I'm blind, not deaf, thanks. And I'll be fine. I don't need any special treatment."

The teacher turned red. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She turned to the rest of the class. "Are you and Nick related to Yuki, the class president?" she pointed to a boy with purple hair and purple eyes.

Fang looked at him. Yuki nodded slightly. "Yeah." Fang said.

"Well, Nick, you sure are a man of few words!"

"I said, call me Fang."

"I don't like nicknames, Nick."

"I don't like Nick."

The teacher was taken aback. "Well then, Fang, would you like to pull out your Algebra 2 book and we can get started?"

Everyone took out their books.

------------

After class, Fang and Iggy caught up with Yuki. "So, you're our cousin?"

"Well, if you're the kids Bakura told me about, then yes. Yuki Sohma, ninth grade class president. Technically I'm Haru's cousin. Or third cousin, or something like that. Anyway, see you around."

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Kaiba Mansion

"Hey Cloud, long time no see!"

"Reno, what are you doing here?"

"Eh, me and Rude are just stalking some kids and thought we'd check out their rooms."

"Some… kids?"

"Yeah, some blind kid and his friends."

"Oh. You mean Iggy."

"Aha! Rude, we have a name! The… blind… one… is… Iggy." Reno scribbled in a notebook. "Anything else you'd like to tell us?

"Why are you stalking them?"

"Rufus told us to."

"Shinra? Why does he want you to stalk some kids?"

"Ah, that's top secret." Rude interjected.

Cloud sighed. "You guys aren't allowed to be here."

"You gonna kick us out?"

"If you don't leave first."

"Sorry, Cloud my friend, but we have strict orders to find out as much about these kids as possible. That and we're supposed to take out anyone in our path… but we don't want to have to take you out, of course." Reno said.

"As if you could "take me out" anyway." Cloud muttered.

"Well, if you really want us gone, you could come with us and tell us all about these kids…"

"I have to guard the house."

"Well, it looks like we have ourselves a paradox here. We can't stay, but we can't leave without you. You have to stay, but if you stay, we have to leave. We can't leave." Reno sighed melodramatically. "What to do, what to do?"

"Reno. We could just follow them to their school, like we're supposed to be doing."

"But I thought we could get some good info here!"

"Come on, Reno." Rude started to drag him away.

"Fine. Bye, Cloud."

"Hn." Cloud rolled over and went back to sleep.

-----------------

Wahoo! Another chapter down. Just so you know, while I was writing this I was listening to the Kingdom Hearts themes (Simple and Clean and Passion). So, if Kingdom Hearts characters show up at any time, don't be surprised.

Next chapter: LUNCHTIME CHAOS! … Or something like that.

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	17. Chapter 17

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: GO PLAY KINGDOM HEARTS 2. OR 1. IT DOESN'T MATTER. THEY BOTH HAVE RIKU. LISTEN TO PASSION OR SANCTUARY BY UTADA HIKARU.

Anyway, I still don't own anything other than Akira.

**Chapter 17**

"Fang, do you see any of them?" Iggy prodded Fang in the ribs.

Fang craned his neck above the crowded lunchroom. "Oh. They meant that door. Over here." He led Iggy over to a door on the other side of the lunchroom.

"There you are!" Max grabbed Fang.

"Erm, Max, you may not want to do that." Akira said nervously, looking around.

"Do what?"

"Hold hands."

"Why?"

"The vice principal has a strict policy about Public Displays of Affection. If he catches you, you get a week of detention."

"Oh." Max let go of Fang(ie)'s hand. "So, where do we sit?"

"Right there." Akira pointed to the only still empty table. "Does everyone have enough money for lunch?"

"Erm… those lunches don't look big enough." Max said, pointing at a small Styrofoam tray loaded with food.

"Don't worry; you can go back for seconds."

"What about thirds?" Fang asked.

Akira laughed. "Sure."

They all got their lunches and sat at the table.

"So, you guys make any new friends?"

"Fang and I met a guy named Yuki. He said he was related to Haru."

Haru looked up at the mention of Yuki's name. "Y-y-yeah. He's my f-favorite cousin. Other than Rin."

"Rin is Haru's girlfriend." Baku informed them. "And don't give me those "Disgusting, he's dating his cousin" looks. She's actually his fourth or fifth cousin, and that's perfectly all right. The Sohma family just refers to everyone as cousin, because there's so many of them. It would be hard to say "This is my twelfth cousin three times removed". They just say cousin."

Akira looked back at Iggy. "Well, Yuki's really nice, especially since you're not Kyo. Kyo is another cousin, and he and Yuki do _not_ get along at _all_. Have you met anyone else?"

"Well, I met a boy named Riku. He's pretty cool. But he hangs around with this loser named Sora. Sora must be the most annoying boy ever. But Riku is cool, even if he is kind of rude…"

"Oh, I know Riku! He's so awesome!" Akira said.

"And I know Sora, unfortunately." Baku said. "He is a rather girly little squirt, isn't he? And have you met Kairi?"

"No."

"Lucky you. She's usually with Sora and Riku."

Max was staring at Kaiba. He was typing away, completely ignoring the food and noise around him. "Do you ever eat?"

He looked up, annoyed by the intrusion into his work time. "No. I'm a higher life form that survives on the pureness of the hearts around me."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"Noooo, of _course _not." He rolled his eyes. "What are you, some kind of idiot?"

"Why aren't you eating?"

"I only get hungry about twice a week. My stomach is the size of a walnut."

"Was that sarcasm again?"

"Only to some extent. I really don't get hungry that often. I only eat a lot if it's Akira's tuna casserole. Or fish. I like fish."

"Why don't you get hungry?"

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "Why are you so inquisitive toward me? Are you some crazy fangirl? Because if you are, I can get a restraining order."

"Are you always this paranoid?"

"Little girl, I'm famous. Famous people are always paranoid."

"Little girl!"

"Yes. If you haven't noticed, you're a good four inches shorter than me, and you're two years younger. That makes you little in two senses of the word."

Max turned away, flushing with anger. _Why is he so arrogant? And why do I care?_

The bell rang, causing many people to shovel food into their mouths at dangerous speeds.

"Okay, everyone. See you in sixth period drama!"

Drama was the only class that more than three of them had at the same time, since they were spread through ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade. But in Drama it didn't matter. Anyone could take it, and they had switched their schedules so they all had it together. That meant that about one third of the class was from the Kaiba mansion. The rest of the class was made up by people that Akira or someone knew, such as the Nerd Herd.

--------------------

"Rude, did you really have to drag me here?" Reno whined.

"You wouldn't walk. I didn't want to carry you."

"Whatever."

"We have to watch these kids."

"I feel like a babysitter." Reno grumbled.

"Just make sure that Sora kid doesn't see you. We don't want those freaks Axel and Roxas screwing up our plans."

"Yeah, I know."

"Why did you let that stupid Heartless get you anyway?"

"I told you, it snuck up behind me! But I have a strong heart!"

"How do you know?"

"Well, I have a Nobody, don't I?"

"I suppose…"

"Anyway, you don't have to keep reminding me not to let him see me. This is like the fifth time. I'm not stupid."

Rude stifled a laugh.

"I heard that!"

"Shh! There they are." Rude pointed through the window of a classroom. They saw three of the targets filing in with a bunch of other kids.

-----------------------

Iggy's head snapped toward the sound of the voices. "Max? Is there a window over there?" He pointed in the general direction of the voices.

"Yeah… how did you know?"

"I thought I heard something…" Iggy decided in that split second not to tell Max that he had heard the voice of Rude, the guy that had fallen into his room.

"Hmm… well, it must have just been a cat or something. There's no one there."

Just then, the Drama teacher swept into the room. "Everyone take your seats. I don't care where you sit, just sit down and shut up."

Iggy decided he liked the Drama teacher.

"Now. One thing you have to have in Drama is trust. Trust that the other actors will say their lines, trust that if someone has to catch you, they will, and trust that the knife they have is not real."

Nervous laughter sounded.

"Laughing is good. It relaxes the face and warms up your muscles. Facial expressions are another important part of acting. But back to the lesson. To increase the trust in this class, I want you each to stand up and tell us your name and one of your deepest, darkest secrets. You don't have to tell anything embarrassing, just secret. This will help increase the trust between us all. Now, we'll start here and go around the room."

The class looked apprehensive at having to reveal a secret.

"Fine, to prove to you that I'm not kidding, I'll go first." The teacher said. "My name is Ms. Portray, and one of my secrets is that I am terrified of pigs. Can't stand the disgusting things. Unfortunately, my brother is a farmer and he owns over twenty of the little beasties. My brother still doesn't know. Now, that wasn't so bad, was it? Now you." She pointed to Andrellix, who was seated nearest the door.

He stood up, looking completely bored. "My name's Andrellix Topalian, and I steal stuff."

"Nice, Andrellix, thank you. And all of you now have to keep Andrellix's secret. That's the policy in here. What is said in here, stays in here. That's part of trusting. Next?"

"Draco Malfoy, I hate you all."

"Ren Tao, I think you're filthy cockroaches."

"Bakura Sohma, I'm a five-thousand year old Egyptian spirit."

The teacher cut in. "I can tell you'll be good at acting, but we're sharing true things."

"I know."

Most of the class gave him a funny look.

"Okay… next?"

"I-I'm Haru Sohma, and I'm in love with a horse."

More funny looks.

"Max Sohma, I cook worse than my blind brother."

"Chaos Ketsueki, I've been tying Max's shoelaces together all day. And I've been trying to steal her boyfriend, since she's too ugly for him."

The teacher cut in again. "Blunt little thing, aren't you?"

Chaos nodded.

Max turned around and gave her a death glare. Chaos promptly sprouted fangs.

"Oh, and I'm half vampire."

Everyone edged their desks away from her.

"Next?"

"Sumi Asazuki, I've been secretly playing video games on my glasses all day."

"Ryo Bakura, I miss my father." He looked about to cry.

"Marissa Green, I like Ryo." She patted him on the back.

"Nick Sohma, my real name is Fang."

"Ryo Ecafeip, I have a top hat."

"Alphonse Limah, I wish my hair was white."

"Haruko Neko, I snuck ice cream into the computer lab."

"Kat Okurah, I am the best trumpet player in the world."

"Iggy Sohma, I build bombs."

"Takeo Mouton, my last name means "sheep" in French, and I'm a werewolf."

People scooted away from him.

"Riku, I don't have a last name."

"Kyoko Joli, I'm an enchantress."

The boys moved away from her.

"Pickle Okurah, I hate Sora."

The teacher cut in, looking glad to get a word in edgewise. "Pickle isn't on my roll."

The girl glared at her. "Then put it on the roll."

Ms. Portray crossed something out on the roll and wrote "Pickle".

"Sorano Rose, I'm a princess. For real."

"Kairi Lrigresoleht, I like Sora." She turned and glared at Pickle.

Pickle said loudly, "I hate Kairi too."

"Settle down, settle down. Now, moving on."

"Sora Yobresoleht, I have a Keyblade."

About twelve people in the room gave him death glares.

"Yuki Sohma, I have my own fan club."

"Akira Tosiyama, I'm terrified of spiders and deep water."

"Kyo Sohma, I hate Yuki even though he's my cousin."

"I'm Yami Moon, I'm a really cool reviewer." (A/N Yay for blackheartmoon!)

"Kala Raish, I own my own cantina."

"Isamu Joah, I'm an alchemist."

Everyone involuntarily held their breath. Next was Kaiba. What secret would he reveal?

"Seto Kaiba. You call me Kaiba. All of my secrets are secret, thanks."

"I'm sorry, Kaiba, but everyone else told something. You have to say something."

"Fine. I don't get the recommended eight hours of sleep every night."

"Thank you."

Everyone sighed in disappointment.

"Now, that took so long that the bell is about to ring. Tomorrow we will start working on our first section: improvisation! Until the bell rings you may talk."

Iggy went over to the window, listening carefully. He stayed there, listening, until the bell rang.

----------------------

Sheesh! Sorry, that was really long… but it was a blast to write! If you're confused about Sora and Kairi's last names, just spell them backwards… BWAHAHAHA!

And there you go, everyone! Cameos! Now maybe I can convince some of you to read it!

If anyone has questions about the characters, names, or other thingies used in this story, please tell me! I'll try and answer any questions.

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	18. Chapter 18

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

The disclaimer will be by my good friend Mu'ut! (He's my electric bass guitar)

Mu'ut- Twang.

Akira- That means I don't own anything. Now, I don't know how good this chapter will be, because I haven't written it yet! Thanks to all reviewers who stuck with the story!

**Chapter 18**

The rest of the school day was uneventful. When they got home, Cloud was still asleep on the couch.

"I guess that means no one snuck in…" Akira said.

"Or, someone snuck in, Cloud kicked their butts, and then went back to sleep." Baku observed.

"True. We'll have to ask him when he wakes up."

The elementary kids weren't home yet, since their school was farther away. The older kids took the opportunity to eat a snack. Then…

BANG. The door flew open and Nudge came running to Max. "My teacher is so mean!" She sobbed. "He's making us read a book and do a report on it! AND IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!"

Angel and Gazzy came skipping in. "My teacher is nice." Angel said.

"My teacher is SO COOL!" Gazzy yelled. Loudly.

Kaiba grabbed Gazzy by the back of his shirt. "In my house, we use our inside voices. Got it, punk?" He shook Gazzy roughly.

"Cut it out, jerk!" Max yelled, jumping up to grab Gazzy. "He's just excited! Give him a break!"

Kaiba glared at her, then turned on his heel and strode into the basement.

"Sheesh Akira, you sure picked a loser of a boyfriend!" Max said angrily.

This seemed to have touched a nerve. "He is not a loser." She said, quiet and furious. "You don't know anything about Seto. So you can just shut the heck up." She turned and went down the stairs after him.

Max gaped. Then she whirled on Baku. "You're her best friend. What does she see in him?"

Baku twitched at the word "friend" then spat out angrily. "Well, let's see. She's known him her whole life, they've been through some tough times together, she's the only girl who likes him and not his money, and he's not nearly as arrogant to her as he is to other people. Oh, and he's got those gorgeous eyes, the brown mop on his head, and the trenchcoats. Besides, it was love at first sight. I should know. I was there. And you can just buzz off, Max, because Akira has way more going on then you could ever contemplate in your tiny brain." Baku went into his room and slammed the door.

"Sheesh, what is up with these people?" Max addressed the person nearest her, which happened to be Ryo.

"Well, Kaiba hates school because it takes out of his precious work schedule and it's way beneath his level of intelligence. Akira hates it when people say stuff about Kaiba when they don't know him. And Baku was Akira's boyfriend a long time ago, and then Kaiba snatched her away… he's still kind of bitter. That and everyone thinks you're annoying… except me!" He said, in a tone of voice that said he was too happy for his own good.

Max was taken aback at the boy's bluntness. "Everyone thinks I'm annoying?"

Ryo nodded. "Yup. The only people in your group that anyone likes are Iggy, Gazzy, and Fang. You're annoying, Nudge talks too much, and Angel is just weird. But I think you're all cool!" He said in that same chipper British accent. "Oh, and of course, Kaiba doesn't like any of you. But I think he dislikes Iggy less than the rest of you."

Max was amazed at the way this boy said such mean things in such a happy voice.

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Iggy slipped away from Max and slid into Baku's room. He heard a muffled scream, as if someone was screaming into a pillow.

"Erm… Baku?"

The scream cut off abruptly. "Ah yes. The lessons. Right. One moment."

After a few seconds of scuffling noises, Baku said, "You may want to go change into something other than your school uniform. Preferably something you wouldn't mind having catch fire."

Iggy could tell these were going to be interesting lessons.

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After Iggy changed into the old clothes Max had bought him, he went back to Baku's room.

"Ah. Much better. Now where to start… I suppose I could give you a quiz, just to see what you already know."

Bakura started quizzing him on all sorts of interesting subjects, like what temperatures things burn at, how fast he could pick a lock, and why you never set a police dog on fire.

"Hmm… well, you are above average, I'll give you that, but you still have a lot to learn. Now I'm going to teach you the proper way to hold a flamethrower."

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YAY! Well, sorry I didn't go into more detail about the lessons. I rather liked my Max-bashing though. 'Twas fun. Anywho, see you next chapter!

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	19. Chapter 19

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

This disclaimer this time will be from… erm… Riku! 'Cause he's sooooo cool!

Riku- sweatdrop Akira doesn't own anything.

Akira- Thanks Riku! Here's a cookie.

Riku- eats cookie

Akira- Anyway, sorry about that last chapter. I loved the Max bashing though… maybe I should do that more often! It's a great stress reliever!

**Chapter 19**

Iggy collapsed into his bed, exhausted from the lessons Bakura had put him through. _Well, he did say they were going to be challenging…_

He rolled over and fell asleep almost instantly. Not surprising, considering it was four in the morning.

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"Reno, Rude, you are to capture the children and bring them here in the morning. Do you remember which ones you're supposed to kidnap?"

Reno sighed, and then recited, "Iggy, his five friends, the kid with the necklace, the other kid with the other necklace, the kid with the pointy stick, the girl kid with the necklace, the turban guy, and the girl. Right?"

Rude rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Reno, they're not just necklaces and a pointy stick. They're the Sennen Items."

Their boss nodded. "Indeed. And you are to make sure you have all seven when you return here. Understood?"

Reno and Rude nodded.

Reno asked abruptly, "What if someone tries to interfere? Like the girl's boyfriend, or the one kid's brother? Or Cloud?"

"Cloud should be at the mansion, since you're going to capture them while they're at school. Before school starts, may I remind you. So no teachers interfere. As for anyone else… bring them along. If they put up too much of a fight… dispose of them."

"Yes, sir."

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Iggy awoke to soft mooing outside his door. He walked over and opened it. "What?"

"Moomoo moo moo moo moo moo moomoo moo."

Iggy shook his head, wondering if he was still asleep. "Uh… what?"

He heard an exasperated sigh, then felt a small furry thing under his hand. It began pulling him toward the stairs. He realized Haru must be a cow again.

Haru led him down to the kitchen.

"Ah, there you are. I sent Haru up to fetch you. You have ten minutes before the bus comes." Baku informed him.

"Crap!" Iggy ran back up the stairs, plowing straight into Akira. "Oh! Sorry!"

"Better hurry, Iggy. You're going to be late!" she said.

"Right." He ran into his room and quickly got dressed. Then he tore back down the stairs and grabbed a piece of toast before rushing out to catch the bus right before it left.

"Good, Iggy, you made it. I was afraid we were going to have to have Roland drive you." Akira sighed with relief.

Iggy felt his way to his seat before sinking into it, exhausted. He slept until the bus ground to a halt, shaking him awake.

"Good, we have a few minutes before school starts. That means I can show you guys… well, you new guys, our tree!" Akira said brightly.

Fang raised an eyebrow. "You have a tree?"

"Well, it's where we wait in the morning for school to start. We used to share a table with the Nerd Herd, but then there got to be too many of us for the table, so we moved to a tree." Akira explained.

"Oh."

They walked over to a large tree and sat under it, or, in some cases, leaned against it.

"Now what do we do?" Max asked.

"Well, we talk, or just sit… finish homework… sleep… you know, just anything to do while we wait for school to start."

They settled in and started talking about some card game that the flock had never heard of. Kaiba was very passionate about it, and soon they were deep inside his explanation of the game.

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"Now?"

"Yes, Reno. Now."

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Two cloaked figures dropped to the ground in front of them.

"What the-?" Bakura said as he got into fighting stance.

"You're coming with us." The taller one said.

"Why should we?" Kaiba asked threateningly.

"Well, technically, we only need those five." The shorter one said, pointing to Max, Fang, Iggy, Baku, and Akira.

"Why?" Kaiba stepped closer to Akira.

"Well, if you ever want to see the three young children we kidnapped earlier again, they'll come with us."

Everyone looked confused.

The tall one sighed. "You're confusing them." He turned to the group again. "These three." He pulled out pictures of Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel.

"What did you do to them?" Max hissed.

"They're perfectly fine. For kidnapped kids, that is." The short one said.

Max jumped toward him. He quickly pulled out a long metal rod and shocked her with it. She collapsed, twitching. Fang rushed toward her.

"Tsk, tsk. You really should be more polite." The cloaked man said.

"Reno!" The tall one hissed.

"Reno? As in, Shinra Corporation Reno?" Akira said incredulously.

"Nice going, Rude. Now we'll have to take all of them! If the copter crashes from the weight, it's not my fault."

Rude smacked his head in exasperation. "Let's just do it, then! Before someone comes over here to see what's going on!"

Reno pulled out a small metal orb and held it toward the group. "Say cheese!" It let out a bright flash of light, and everyone collapsed. Everyone but Iggy, that is.

"Crap, Rude, we forgot this kid can't see it! What do we do?"

"Just hit him over the head or something."

Iggy thought quickly. "Uh… I'll just come with you guys. Is that okay?"

Reno and Rude looked at each other. They held a whispered conversation.

"Well, he can't see where we're going anyway, right?"

"But what if he tries to escape and get help?"

"We can just tie him up!"

The two men turned back toward Iggy. "Okay," Reno said. "But we're going to have to tie you up."

Iggy held out his arms obligingly.

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_From the sound of it, they're taking us somewhere in a helicopter. _Iggy thought. _I wonder where we're going?_

Iggy had been keeping his ears open for any clue as to where they were going and why. It had been hours since they took off. So far all he had heard was the roar of the helicopter blades, and more recently, people beginning to wake up.

"Ugh… my head…" Bakura groaned.

"Finally! I was wondering when you were going to wake up." Iggy said loudly over the roar.

"Iggy?" Baku shouted.

"Let's talk later! I think we're beginning to land!" Iggy yelled.

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"Finally! I was beginning to think we were never going to get here." Reno said as they touched down just outside of Cairo, Egypt.

Rude just looked queasy.

"Oh, Rude, don't tell me you still get motion sick?" Reno smirked. "Well, come on, we have to get the other three. I don't know if they'll fit… but I guess we'll find out." He glanced back at the prisoners, and found that Iggy was sitting against the back wall, with everyone still asleep around him.

"Comfortable?" Reno asked mockingly.

Iggy glared in his direction.

"Good." Reno and Rude got up and exited the copter.

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Iggy wriggled around until he got the ropes off of his arms. "Baku? Where are you?" he whispered, in case the two men came back.

"Over here. No… a little to the left… this way… there. That's my head."

Iggy quickly untied the knots holding Bakura, and they quickly untied everyone else who was awake. That amounted to Kaiba, Max, and Fang.

"What the deuce is going on here?" Kaiba muttered.

"Good question." Everyone else said at the same time. (Da na na! Pickle and Kat get it)

Bakura sighed. "Well, we've been kidnapped."

"No duh, Sherlock." Kaiba said. (Sherlock!)

Baku shot him a glare.

Kaiba continued, "The question is why we have been kidnapped."

"Well, they did say they only wanted the flock, me, and Akira. Maybe our Sennen Items have something to do with it."

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain why they wanted the flock. They don't have any stupid Items." Kaiba stated.

"Maybe… they're Erasers." Iggy said without thinking.

"Iggy!" Max elbowed him. She whispered into his ear, "We still don't know about Kaiba."

"Oops." Iggy said.

"Eh… Eraser? As in, the little pink things?" Kaiba asked.

"No, baka, Eraser as in the wolf human hybrids that are after them." Baku said.

Max and Fang shot him death glares.

"What are those for? You can't possibly think Kaiba's an Eraser. He's too… Kaiba. And I think Akira would have noticed if he spontaneously turned into a wolf."

"What if Akira's an Eraser?" Fang pointed out.

Baku slammed him against the wall of the copter. "Don't ever say anything like that again. I don't even want you to think about Akira like that. She is the farthest thing from an Eraser there is." He shoved Fang and added, "Stay away from her." Then he let him go.

Fang rubbed his shoulder.

"As for Kaiba, he has wings too, you know." Baku threw over his shoulder as he walked over to check on Haru.

The three flock members stared at Kaiba. "Wha…?"

Kaiba glared at Bakura, causing him to flinch. Then he turned back to the flock. "Yeah. I have wings." They could practically hear him thinking, _So what?_

"Where…?" Max asked, still somewhat speechless.

"Where did I get them? In a gaming accident. I was dueling with a robot at my lab, and it exploded. I was… seriously injured. I had somehow been fused with a card. And yet, it wasn't a card anymore. I had been fused with a living, breathing dragon. I eventually got erm… defused, but I can still make the wings appear if I want to." (MADAMHYDRA ROCKS!)

"So… your wings are bat-like more than bird-like?" Max asked.

"Dragon-like. And yes."

"Oh. Ours are bird-like, and we were genetically engineered to have them. Technically, we're 2 bird." Max said.

"That's nice." Kaiba said in a bored tone. Then he turned away and his fingers started twitching.

"Erm… Kaiba? Are you okay?" Max said, pointing at his twitching fingers.

"That's none of your business, is it?" he pointed out.

"Fine! I was just trying to be nice!" Max exclaimed.

"Well then, stop trying to be nice. I don't care if you're nice. Just leave me alone."

Iggy suddenly straightened up. "Someone's coming."

Everyone stretched back out on the floor, and Iggy leaned against the wall. He heard the two men step back into the copter.

"Sheesh, that's another extra person, and he's heavy, too!" Iggy felt about four people being heaved into the helicopter. Then the two men went back up to the cockpit and started the plane. Iggy stayed awake for awhile, but he eventually fell asleep.

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BWAHAHAHA! The plot thickens! And I still don't have a number one bad guy! Any suggestions are welcome! Sorry about all those … inside jokes and stuff, but I couldn't resist! Updating will be less often now that I'm back in school. I have Pre-calculus and Honors World Civilizations and Honors Physics… and all the homework that goes along with it… AGH! Why did I sign up for so many hard classes! I must be a fool!

Anywho, see yous all next time!

1,877 words


	20. Chapter 20

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

Uh… today's disclaimer will be from my unidentified music player again.

U.M.P. - Draw a line in the sand and then take a stand! -Use your camera to spar –Use your guitar!

Akira- That was from RENT! has a new obsession with Rent Thanks again, Kat and Pickle. j00 know I love it. Anyway, as usual I don't own any of the random stuff in here. Mainly it's Yu-gi-oh, Maximum Ride, and Final Fantasy VII. Hey! We've reached chapter 20! YAY!

Baku- YAY! Your screams will echo into eternity! YAY! Your torture will last forever! YAY! Everyone join in! YAY!

Akira- Yay for LittleKuriboh on YouTube! Anyway, on to the story.

**Chapter 20**

Iggy awoke suddenly as the helicopter landed. He heard the side door open and people moving around. Then he felt someone grab his arms roughly. He pretended to be unconscious. Minutes passed and the footsteps faded away.

"Anybody else near here?" Iggy said.

"Yes, Iggy. We're all here." Baku said from Iggy's left.

"Where exactly is… here?" Iggy asked.

"We're in a cell about 20 feet by 15 feet. The door is made of iron. The walls, ceiling, and floor are made of cement. The room is about seven feet high. There is a small window on the side away from the door. It is blocked by iron bars. It looks out into a small courtyard-"

"Okay, Kaiba, we get the point." Max snapped.

He glared at her.

"Wait, did you say iron?" Baku shuddered. "Are you sure?"

"97.5 sure. Why?" Kaiba said.

"Let's just say I'm highly allergic to iron." Baku glanced at the door and shuddered again.

Max looked around, already bored. She noticed Kaiba's fingers were twitching again. "Okay, Kaiba. That's the second time your fingers have done that. What's the matter with you?"

Kaiba glared at her again. "If you must know, I'm having withdrawals."

Everyone stared at him.

"Not _that_ kind of withdrawals." He rolled his eyes. "Withdrawals from my computers. Work. Typing. Jeez. You people. Your mind immediately jumps to the worst thing."

"Not to interrupt this lovely conversation, but we're kind of KIDNAPPED. What the deuce are we going to do about it?" Baku reminded them all.

"Well, Bakura, unless you have some genius idea to help us escape this cell, I'm guessing we're stuck here for a while. Unless you want to break down the door." Kaiba shot at him.

Baku shook his head vigorously. "Kaiba, the day I willingly touch iron is the day the Shadow Realm lights up. Or the day that cats, Ra forbid anything happen to them, fly. Or the day that Wheeler gets a better grade than you."

Fang looked at Bakura, interested. "Who's Ra? And why should nothing happen to cats?"

"Ra is the Egyptian sun god. And nothing should happen to cats because they're sacred to Egyptians. And in case you were wondering, yes, I am Egyptian."

Ryo giggled. "You hate cats, Baku."

"Doesn't mean they aren't sacred." Baku replied.

Ryo rolled his eyes.

"Wait… you're Egyptian? But… your accent is British." Fang pointed out.

Baku sighed. "Well, that's what comes from learning English in England. So now I'm stuck with this blasted accent for the rest of my life. Being stuck with Ryo's voice box for… ten years didn't help matters much either."

Fang decided to let that last comment drop.

"So… again, back to… why the deuce are we here?" Akira piped up.

"I'll tell you why you're here." A voice came from the doorway. They turned to see Reno standing there. "You're here because our boss and his new partner want you here."

"Rufus? Why would Rufus want us here? And who's his new partner?" Akira asked. The flock was lost. Who was this Rufus person?

Reno shrugged. "I really don't think Rufus cares, actually. It seems that this is all the plot of his partner. And… you'll find out who that is… eventually."

"So why are you here?" Kaiba shot at him.

"I'm here to collect those…" He looked at his hand, where something was written in pen. "… Sennen Items. Yeah. Those. So hand 'em over."

"Do you really think we're going to give them up that easily?" Baku asked.

"Sure, why not? They're just some dumb necklaces and crap, right?"

Baku, Kaiba, Akira, Yugi, and the four people in the corner that none of them had noticed before stared at him.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Let me explain a few things to you. For Akira and me, at least, it would be painful and possibly even fatal to give up our items. I don't know about Malik, Isis, and Shadi, but I would be willing to bet that they would rather not give them up."

Reno looked confused. "How could it be fatal to hand over a necklace?"

"Well, since my immortal soul is trapped in it, to take off this necklace would be to remove my soul from my body."

Reno nodded. "Well, I guess so. But what about Akira?"

"Reno, do you know what her Sennen Item is called?"

"Eh…" He looked at his hand again. "The… Sennen Eye?"

"Yes. And where do you think she would have that Eye?"

"Uh…" Reno looked queasy.

"It's in her eye socket. She would have to rip out her left eye and give it to you. This would potentially be very gory." Baku said.

Reno turned to the door. "Uh… I'll go talk to my boss again."

Nearly everyone was staring at Akira, or, more appropriately, her left eye.

"So… that eye isn't real?" Max said, pointing at the very real looking blue eye.

Akira blushed. "No… it's a hologram. Seto wired it into the Eye for me." She winked her eye slowly. The hologram turned off, and they could all clearly see a golden eye residing in her eye socket.

"How long have you had that, Akira?" Ryo asked.

"Ever since Baku gave it to me for my birthday a few years ago."

"So that was why Pegasus disappeared!" Ryo exclaimed. "Baku stole the Eye from him!"

"Thank you. I think I did a rather nice job of it too." Baku bowed theatrically.

"Wait a minute… who's Pegasus?" Fang asked.

"He was the previous owner of the eye, but he used it for evil purposes. That's why I took it from him." Baku said.

"No it isn't, it's because you have a greedy obsession with the Items." Kaiba pointed out.

"Oh yeah."

"So wait. Who are all those people?" Max pointed at the people in the corner.

Baku looked over. "Oh. That's Malik, Isis, Rishid, and Shadi."

The flock gave him blank stares.

Baku sighed. "Malik, Isis, and Rishid are siblings, and Shadi has two of the aforementioned Sennen Items. Malik and Isis each have one, and I assume Rishid got in their way and they had to bring him."

"Oh."

"I don't know why the rest of you are here, though. Why would they bother bringing the flock?" Baku said thoughtfully.

Everyone shrugged.

"So what do we do now?" Kaiba asked. "We can't just sit here. We should try and escape."

"No freaking DUH, Kaiba." Bakura said.

Kaiba glared at him. "Oh, can it."

"Can it? Oh, I'm so scared. Kaiba told me to can it!" Baku said sarcastically.

"You know what Bakura…" Kaiba started.

Akira cut him off. "Boys! Stop fighting! We're going to get out of here eventually."

They stopped fighting, but continued to glare at each other.

Max, being curious, wanted to know why those two fought so much. Remembering Ryo's bluntness, she pulled him aside.

"Why do those guys fight so much? And why is Akira the only one who can make them stop?" She asked.

"Well, they're jealous of each other. Baku envies Kaiba's romantic relationship with Akira, and Kaiba envies Baku's friendship with her. Since they both like her so much, they'd do almost anything for her. Oh, and I think some of their Ancient Egyptian personalities are still left over."

"Their WHAT?" Max asked incredulously.

"Oh dear. I shouldn't have said that." Ryo said. "Well, we've got nothing else to do. Hey guys!" he yelled. "Let's tell the flock about Ancient Egypt!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "I'm not helping. I don't believe in that crap."

"How do you explain ME then?" Baku said.

"Maybe you're just a psychopath. Or a figment of my imagination. Or maybe you're fooling yourself."

Baku gritted his teeth. Ignoring Kaiba, he turned to Ryo. "We're going to have to tell MY side of the story, then."

"Fine with me!" Ryo said happily. "Let's get started then."

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Finally, an update! Next chapter should be fun, and explain to you all my twisted view of the characters' past.

To any Herd members reading this coughChaoscough If you go back to any chapters with the Herd in them and make a diagram of where the people are standing/sitting, you'll find that Sumi is ALWAYS next to Alphonse. Not a coincidence. BWAHAHA!!!

http:// www. freewebs. com/vampireket/ thestory.htm

If anyone wants to read about the Herd, there is Chaos's website about them. Without spaces, that is.

Until next chapter, then.

A-bye.

1,519 words


	21. Chapter 21

**Iggy**

Akira Tosiyama

So, yet another disclaimer. I still own nothing found within, except for perhaps Akira. And maybe Phonsey. But he probably won't be in this chapter. Darn.

SumixPhonsey FTW!

This chapter will be weird, just because it's my version of the Ancient Egyptian past. It's based on fanfictions, roleplays, and notes. It's not very true to the manga or anime at all, but I like it this way.

I realize that Akira is very MarySue, so please forgive that. If you don't like it, don't read it. I really don't like Akira that much, and she's me. So I'll understand.

**Chapter 21**

Baku turned to Ryo. "Who put you in charge, anyway?"

Ryo's eyes got wide. "You can be in charge if you want, Yami."

Baku laughed at the expression on Ryo's face. "Baka, you really need to learn to stick up for yourself more often. It's fine if you want to be in charge. So long as I get to tell my side of the story first."

"Well, I was actually thinking that maybe… Yugi… should…" Ryo trailed off, looking at Bakura.

The Thief King's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Never mind. You can go." Ryo quickly amended.

"That's what I thought you said. Now. Where to begin…"

"How about the beginning, stupid." Kaiba said loudly.

Bakura whirled around, glaring. "Fine. Just remember, _Set_, this is going to make me feel pretty pissed off at you."

Kaiba shrugged.

Baku glared once more at him, then began his tale.

"About five thousand years ago, a boy was born to one of the pharaoh's priests in Egypt. His mother died soon after he was born, and his father hated him. You see, he had very pale skin and white hair. The priest took him before the pharaoh, asking what to do with him. The pharaoh was disgusted by the lack of color in the boy's hair and skin. They called him a monster.

"However, the pharaoh's wife took pity on the baby, taking him under her wing and naming him. Bakura. Soon after, his father had him sent to an outlying village, Kul Elna, to be taken care of. He was given to the first family the guards saw. It so happened that Kul Elna was a village of thieves, and the family he was given to was the head thief and his wife. Unfortunately for the boy's real father, who was probably wishing the thieves would kill him, the head thief and his wife immediately fell in love with Bakura.

"For three years, he lived the way most young children do, playing with the other children of the village, getting into trouble, and so forth. Then, one day, some royal guards came into Kul Elna. They found Bakura, and informed his 'mother' that they were to take Bakura back to the royal city for a while, as he had recently become an older brother. His father had taken another wife, and she had given birth to a baby boy. However…"

Bakura suddenly choked up. He reached out and scooped Haru into his arms.

"However, the baby was born severely ill. He had a disease that left him weak and unable to move on his own. Without medicine he would have died within a few days.

"He also had white hair and pale skin. Well…" Baku looked at Haru. "White and black hair.

"His mother had died in childbirth, and the priest was left again with a 'monster'. He remembered his other son. He figured he could send for him, see if he bonded with the new baby, and send them both back to Kul Elna.

"When Bakura arrived, they took him in to see the new baby. He was amazed to see someone else with white hair, and they bonded instantly.

"So, the priest decided to wait for the baby to be old enough, then send them both back to 'that thieving village'. Until then, Bakura was left to play with three other young people in the palace, the children of the other priests. Set, Isis, and Malik. Eventually, after he and Malik had explored the palace, they discovered another young playmate: The pharaoh's son. Atem.

"With the exception of Isis, the young boys had many fun days together. But the day finally came for him to return to his family. His real family. The only family he would ever know. The head thief and his wife immediately loved the new baby as well, as they were unable to have children of their own. The guards left instructions and bottles of medicine, then left. Bakura's mother named the baby Haru.

"Bakura was very protective of his new brother. He rarely went out to play unless he had Haru cradled against him. When he did go out, he became best friends with a young girl whose family had recently moved to Kul Elna. Her name was Kisara."

Baku paused again, this time to glare at Kaiba.

Kaiba interrupted now, "You were the one who… never mind. I don't believe in this crap anyway."

"Whatever, Kaiba. You know it's true. Anyway," Baku continued with his narrative.

"So Bakura's childhood continued normally. When he was ten, his father started teaching him how to be a thief. He proved to be very adept at it, and he and his Ka made huge leaps forward."

"His what?" Iggy interrupted.

"His Ka. It's a monster-like spirit that can be used in battle, or in thieving. His was very powerful and could go through solid objects. Very useful for getting into tombs and such. Anyway, when he was…"

Fang interrupted next: "Why are you talking about yourself in the third person?"

Baku glared at him. "Does it matter? As I was saying, when he was fifteen, he and Kisara went on their first date. They went into the city and went to lunch and such. He was very much in love with her." Baku glanced longingly at Akira.

"One year later, everything went terribly wrong. Kisara, Bakura, and Haru had gone into the city to pick up some more medicine for Haru. When they returned… the entire village had been burnt to the ground. Everyone…" Baku choked up again. "Everyone was being slaughtered. The pharaoh's men were dumping the people, still living, into a large cauldron. They were using the souls of the people to create the Sennen Items."

Everyone looked in disgust at the golden Items various people were wielding. Akira was crying silently.

Baku continued. "Bakura, Kisara, and Haru went back to the capitol to try and find out why this had happened. Bakura marched them right up to the palace and through the front doors. They walked into the throne room. It was the biggest mistake of Bakura's life. When they walked through that door, three people immediately fell in love. Love at first sight. Feh." He looked very annoyed at this. "The pharaoh was now the young Atem, as his father had passed away a week before. He fell in love with Kisara. The high priest Set and Kisara fell in love with each other." Baku stopped, glaring at Kaiba.

Kaiba looked disgruntled. "It's not my fault. She fell in love with him, too."

"Whatever. I hate you, you know that, right?"

Kaiba sighed. "Yes."

After another evil look directed toward Kaiba, Baku continued yet again. "To make a long story short, Bakura ended up killing his biological father, stealing the Ring, and being killed by the pharaoh. His soul was trapped in the Ring, and every few years, when he found a suitable host, he would take over that person's body." He gestured at Ryo. "Ryo here was my last host. Hopefully for good, now that I have my original body back."

Gazzy looked confused. "What happened to everyone else?"

"Ah yes. Basically, everyone but Haru died. Haru lived for many years after that, surprisingly, and he married and had children. Ryo is one of his descendants. The pharaoh's soul was trapped in the Sennen Puzzle, and he had a few hosts through the years. The latest being young Yugi here. Set and Kisara were reincarnated quite a few times, and they are the Akira and Kaiba you see before you. That concludes my part of the story. And now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go into a corner and brood." He walked into a corner, and, well, he brooded.

Ryo looked around. "Well, that was Baku's side of the story. Anyone else want to share? Any questions?"

"Why does Baku hate the pharaoh so much? He didn't even do anything." Fang said.

"Were you not listening? The pharaoh killed him, tried to steal his girlfriend, and was partially the cause of his whole village being killed." Kaiba said, drawling slightly.

Fang glared, but didn't comment.

Ryo glanced around. "Well, that's that, then. Who wants to go next?"

"I think Baku got most of it right, actually." Akira commented.

The pharaoh looked indignant. "What?! He left out everything about me!"

"So he got all the important parts." Kaiba pointed out.

Yugi glared at him.

Ryo looked around one more time. "Well, we could let the pha-"

He was cut short by the door opening again. Reno appeared in the doorway, this time flanked by Rude.

"So, I asked Mr. Shinra, and he said just to bring all of you with items to him. Oh, and those six." Reno said, pointing to the flock.

"Well, I'm afraid I'm not just going to leave my brother here." Baku said, grabbing Haru protectively.

"Hmmm. He'll just have to come too, then." Rude said. "But we're going now."

Those that had been commanded to follow him, did. Reno took up the rear, and the proceeded through hallways, stopping before some ominous looking doors.

"Oh my, how cliché." Baku said sarcastically.

"Shut up!" Reno said, knocking on the doors.

The doors slowly creaked open.

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So, I'm stopping there. I don't know when this will be updated again, as it's summer and I have work and friends to attend to. And I'm not happy with the direction the story is going. Maybe I'll write some other stories.

To fans of this story, sorry. It kinda sucks now. Just go back and read the first few chapters and think of better days.

1,716 words


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